Overwatch

About

Overwatch is a team-based first-person shooter video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment, in which players assume control of a variety of hero characters each with their own unique abilities.

Premise

Overwatch takes place in a future after an event known as the Omnic Crisis. The Omnic Crisis began when robots that once served humans mysteriously gained sentience, and rebelled against their human masters. Humanity responded to this by creating Overwatch: an organization tasked with enforcing good and defending the planet from evil. A large battle then commenced between the robots and Overwatch, with Overwatch being victorious at the end. Skip to present day, thirty years after the Omnic Crisis. For reasons unknown, Overwatch has been disbanded, and most of its members now serve as mercenaries.^[5]

Gameplay

In the beta release of the game, Overwatch allowed players to control 21 heroes in a six versus six team. Hero characters include:

• Tracer: A former pilot with the ability to blink through time
• Hanzo: A ninja-like hero who wields a bow and can climb walls
• Reinhardt: A hero who carries a massive hammer and wears a giant suit of armor
• McCree: A former outlaw who delivers justice on his own terms with his revolver
• Reaper: A mysterious rogue who brandishes dual shotguns and can turn into a shadow
• Widowmaker: A deadly assassin armed with a sniper rifle and an infra-sight recon visor

Current maps consist of three game modes: Control, Payload, and Point Capture, with some being hybrids between the latter two. Each match will put you on a team of six people attempting to attack/defend an area while the opposing team tries to stop you from doing so. ^[4] At the end of each match, a “Play of the Game” will be displayed, showing the player that employed a maneuver that turned the tide of the game.

History

Overwatch was first announced on November 7th, 2014 during BlizzCon (shown bellow). During Penny Arcade Expo East 2015, Blizzard Entertainment announced the release of a closed beta on October 25th, 2015.^[6] The game is set for release on May 24th, 2016.

Tracer’s Pose Controversy

On March 25th, 2016, Blizzard forum user Fipps started a discussion thread in Overwatch’s beta feedback page^[9] asserting that the victory pose of Tracer, one of the more well-known playable characters, is irrelevant to her character traits and therefore objectifies her as a female sex symbol.

In response to Kaplan’s announcement, many users criticized the decision for what they perceived as a disproportionate response to an individual beta participant’s qualm, some raised their eyebrows at the studio’s seemingly arbitrary hypersensitivity to sexualization of cartoon characters, despite its gratuitous depiction of cartoon violence, while others complimented the studio for its receptiveness to community feedback and dedication to the details in portrayal of characters in line with their personalities. On April 5th, the game was updated to include a replacement for the original, which was consequently praised by the fans for being more fitting with Tracer’s personality. A post on the Overwatch subreddit regarding the pose change gained over 2,900 points (89% upvoted) and 950 comments in less than 16 hours.^[15]

Open Beta

On May 2nd, Blizzard released a new cinematic teaser titled “Are You With Us?”, featuring the Overwatch character Winston announcing the game’s “Open Beta” event, which will allow people to play the game for free from May 5th to May 9th (shown below). The same day, those who preordered the game were allowed early access to the Open Beta.

On May 3rd, the @PlayOverwatch Twitter feed posted a map showing when the Open Beta will be available for various regions around the world (shown below).

On May 20th, Blizzard released an infographic containing various player statistic gathered during the beta test period.

Online Presence

Since its announcement, Overwatch has been heavily compared with the team-based first person shooter Team Fortress 2. On November 9th, 2014, YouTuber RIZΣKI uploaded a video titled “Team Overwatch 2 Trailer”, featuring Overwatch‘s trailer with Team Fortress 2 voice commands, gaining over 250,000 views in the following year, On November 11th, 2014, the let’s playerSTAR_ uploaded a video where he discusses about the comparasions and his opinion on the game, gaining over 900,000 views in the following year. After the announcement, a dedicated subreddit was created, gathering over 75,000 subscribers in the following year.^[1]

After its announcement, the game quickly gained a fandom, spawning fan art and discussions on the released trailers. As November 25th, 2015, the artist community DeviantART leads to over 5,000 results under the keyword “overwatch”, being most of them related to the game.^[3] Fandom presence can also be found on other communities like Tumblr.^[2]

Related Memes

Time to Reap

“Time to Reap” is a voice line uttered by Reaper when using his ultimate ability. First seen on the gameplay trailer (shown bellow, left), the quote got consequently mocked for being percived edgy, and got popular after an animation uploaded by STAR_, which got over 460,000 views in less than a month (shown bellow, right).

It’s High Noon

“It’s High Noon” is a voice line uttered by the hero McCree when using his ultimate ability. Due the effectiveness of the ability, the quote has become popular on the fandom.

Justice Rains From Above

“Justice Rains From Above” is a memorable quote uttered by the the playable hero character Pharah whenever she uses her ultimate ability Barrage.

Search Interest

External References