According to Jason Schreier, a journalist from Bloomberg currently writing a novel about the inner workings of Blizzard, the gaming company was in discussions with Netflix to create a series based on the popular game franchise.
Fans of Overwatch 2 have become deeply invested in its lore over the years; however, the release of new story content has diminished as the team has faced significant layoffs. With key members responsible for storytelling being let go, this situation was somewhat anticipated.
Moreover, as the single-player mode for Overwatch 2 was canceled due to poor sales from its initial missions, there has been a noticeable scarcity of new lore, primarily emerging alongside newly introduced heroes.
In his Reddit AMA where he discusses his book titled *Play Nice*, Schreier shared insights gathered from interviews with former and current Blizzard employees. He disclosed that an Overwatch TV series was among projects planned along with adaptations for Warcraft and Diablo.
“The book reveals that they had series in development with Netflix for Warcraft, Overwatch, and Diablo. But uh…” followed by a reference to a Variety article that discussed a lawsuit Blizzard filed against Netflix.
Blizzard was suing the streaming service, alleging that they poached former CFO Spencer Neumann from the company. As a result, any potential for these series to be developed was reportedly extinguished, according to Schreier.
While it is disappointing for fans of Diablo and Warcraft that those series are not moving forward, both game franchises continue to evolve, with compelling narratives in Diablo 4 and World of Warcraft. Diablo 4 features stunning animated cutscenes and engaging expansions, while WoW: The War Within adds significant new developments to the overarching story. Thus, fans from both series are enjoying substantial content.
On the other hand, Overwatch 2’s narrative updates remain minimal, often tied to new heroes like Venture and Juno, as well as exciting crossovers with franchises like Porsche, Transformers, and My Hero Academia. Of all possible series in development, Overwatch really seemed to need one the most.
“There’s no way…” replied Overwatch 2 content creator Flats.
“WE LOST SO UNBELIEVABLY HARD,” lamented another user. Many others expressed their excitement upon learning about the possibility of an Overwatch animated series, only to be disappointed to find out it “was” merely in development, not in production.
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