History Trivia / Overwatch

** ''Overwatch 2'' itself ended up experiencing a great deal of this as a mix of [[ExecutiveMeddling corporate politics]] and logistical circumstances. In January 2022 (shortly after the announcement of Creator/{{Microsoft}} acquiring Creator/ActivisionBlizzard), ''Overwatch'' producer Tracy Kennedy [[https://gamerant.com/overwatch-2-delays-why-bobby-kotick/ publicly called out Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick]] for poor management, alleging that he would regularly shove large projects onto the ''Overwatch'' team, forcing them into overtime [[DevelopmentHell only to cancel said projects]], costing the production of ''2'' months at a time and creating a massive turnover rate (including the losses of director Jeff Kaplan and executive producer Chacko Sonny). [[https://ftw.usatoday.com/2022/04/overwatch-2-interview-devs-geoff-goodman-brandon-brennan Hero designers Geoff Goodman and Brandon Brennan also relayed]] how the one-two punch of Kaplan's sudden retirement and the highly-publicized workplace scandals at Activison-Blizzard left a massive morale hit to the team. The game's ill-fated [=PvE=] elements were downsized significantly due to a combination of anxiety surrounding the game's long-term future (the aforementioned financial issues with the Overwatch League included) as well as development revealing them to be logistically unfeasible, with the scope of their goals becoming far too big to solve. Director Aaron Keller compared this directly to ''Overwatch'''s predecessor project ''Titan'', which similarly was expected to include big gameplay elements like massive hero-exclusive talent trees and high reliability, but was also crushed under its sheer size — the ''Overwatch 2'' team believed they were in a better position [[RefittedForSequel to reintegrate those elements into the successful game that did properly see the light of day]], but thanks to more unfortunate setbacks [[HistoryRepeats left them still unable to realistically being it all together]].

** The [[UsefulNotes/ProfessionalGaming Overwatch League]] got off to a strong start and was marked for enormous plans over the coming years, but by 2020 began experiencing several unexpected snags that had direct consequences on the game itself. 2020 was originally marked to be the year Blizzard expanded to an ambitious homestand format that involved more in-person events across the world, but not only did several popular casters and talent depart before season premiere for various reasons (from conflicts with management to personal life making the new travel demands unfeasible), the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic broke out, throwing everything into chaos. Arrangements were made to begin playing the season remotely, but all homestand events were cancelled worldwide, and the major logistical shift proved too taxing for some teams, primarily the NA-based teams with all-Korean rosters and staff — the Vancouver Titans were so wracked with conflict between them and management that the entire roster departed not long after. Things wouldn't get easier for the League in the following years — the highly-publicized workplace lawsuit against Creator/ActivisionBlizzard in 2021 caused nearly all sponsors to pull out of the League, and in late 2022, Blizzard's partnership with Chinese distributor [=NetEase=] ended after their contracts expired and negotiations amidst increasingly strict national standards and the prospective buyout by Creator/{{Microsoft}} earlier in the year fell through, leaving many of Blizzard's games — ''Overwatch'' included — to be effectively BannedInChina. The 2023 season saw many further shifts in teams changing region, changes in Chinese pro-am interactions in the wake of the ban from Chinese broadcasting, one team (the Chengdu Hunters) exiting the league altogether, and Blizzard starting a multi-team collective bargaining process in order to mitigate the high costs amidst continual viewership challenges.

** The [[UsefulNotes/ProfessionalGaming Overwatch League]] got off to a strong start and was marked for enormous plans over the coming years, but by 2020 began experiencing several unexpected snags that had direct consequences on the game itself. 2020 was originally marked to be the year Blizzard expanded to an ambitious homestand format that involved more in-person events across the world, but not only did several popular casters and talent depart before season premiere for various reasons (from conflicts with management to personal life making the new travel demands unfeasible), the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic broke out, throwing everything into chaos. Arrangements were made to begin playing the season remotely, but all homestand events were cancelled worldwide, and the major logistical shift proved too taxing for some teams, primarily the NA-based teams with all-Korean rosters and staff — the Vancouver Titans were so wracked with conflict between them and management that the entire roster departed not long after. Things wouldn't get easier for the League in the following years — the highly-publicized workplace lawsuit against Creator/ActivisionBlizzard in 2021 caused nearly all sponsors to pull out of the League, and in late 2022, Blizzard's partnership with Chinese distributor [=NetEase=] ended after their contracts expired and negotiations amidst increasingly strict national standards and the prospective buyout by Creator/{{Microsoft}} earlier in the year fell through, leaving many of Blizzard's games — ''Overwatch'' included — to be effectively BannedInChina. The 2023 season saw many further shifts in teams changing region, changes in Chinese pro-am interactions in the wake of the ban from Chinese broadcasting, one team (the Chengdu Hunters) exiting the league altogether, and Blizzard starting a multi-team collective bargaining process in order to mitigate the high costs amidst continual viewership challenges. Ultimately, however, this wasn't enough to help recover from the damage, and with the end of the Overwatch League's 2023 season came the announcement that it would be its final one.

** The [[UsefulNotes/ProfessionalGaming Overwatch League]] got off to a strong start and was marked for enormous plans over the coming years, but by 2020 began experiencing several unexpected snags that had direct consequences on the game itself. 2020 was originally marked to be the year Blizzard expanded to an ambitious homestand format that involved more in-person events across the world, but not only did several popular casters and talent depart before season premiere for various reasons (from conflicts with management to personal life making the new travel demands unfeasible), the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic broke out, throwing everything into chaos. Arrangements were made to begin playing the season remotely, but all homestand events were cancelled worldwide, and the major logistical shift proved too taxing for some teams, primarily the NA-based teams with all-Korean rosters and staff — the Vancouver Titans were so wracked with conflict between them and management that the entire roster departed not long after. Things wouldn't get easier for the League in the following years — the highly-publicized workplace lawsuit against Creator/ActivisionBlizzard in 2021 caused nearly all sponsors to pull out of the League, and in late 2022, Blizzard's partnership with Chinese distributor [=NetEase=] ended after their contracts expired and negotiations amidst increasingly strict national standards and the prospective buyout by Creator/{{Microsoft}} earlier in the year fell through, leaving many of Blizzard's games — ''Overwatch'' included — to be effectively BannedInChina. The 2023 season saw many further shifts in teams changing region, changes in Chinese pro-am interactions in the wake of the ban from Chinese broadcasting, one team (the Chengdu Hunters) exiting the league altogether, and Blizzard starting a multi-team collective bargaining process in order to mitigate the high costs amidst continual viewership challenges.

** ''Overwatch 2'' itself ended up experiencing a great deal of this as a mix of [[ExecutiveMeddling corporate politics]] and unfortunate circumstances. In January 2022 (shortly after the announcement of Creator/{{Microsoft}} acquiring Creator/ActivisionBlizzard), ''Overwatch'' producer Tracy Kennedy [[https://gamerant.com/overwatch-2-delays-why-bobby-kotick/ publicly called out Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick]] for poor management, alleging that he would regularly shove large projects onto the ''Overwatch'' team, forcing them into overtime [[DevelopmentHell only to cancel said projects]], costing the production of ''2'' months at a time and creating a massive turnover rate (including the losses of director Jeff Kaplan and executive producer Chacko Sonny). [[https://ftw.usatoday.com/2022/04/overwatch-2-interview-devs-geoff-goodman-brandon-brennan Hero designers Geoff Goodman and Brandon Brennan also relayed]] how the one-two punch of Kaplan's sudden retirement and the highly-publicized workplace scandals at Activison-Blizzard left a massive morale hit to the team. The game's ill-fated [=PvE=] elements were downsized significantly due to a combination of anxiety surrounding the game's long-term future (the aforementioned financial issues with the Overwatch League included), and new director Aaron Keller also confirmed that the removal of features promised in the game's future [=PvE=] (namely the Talent trees and general single-player content) was because they had become too logistically unfeasible and direction had become far too big to solve. Keller compared this directly to ''Overwatch'''s predecessor project ''Titan'', which similarly was expected to include big gameplay elements like massive hero-exclusive talent trees and high reliability, but were crushed under the sheer size of their scope — the ''Overwatch 2'' team believed they were in a better position [[RefittedForSequel to reintegrate those elements into the successful game that did successfully see the light of day]], but thanks to more unfortunate setbacks [[HistoryRepeats left them still unable to realistically being it all together]].

* TalkingToHimself: Zhang Yu, on top of voicing Mei in both the English and Mandarin Chinese version of the game, also voices Symmetra in the Mandarin Chinese version.

* TheWikiRule: Has a [[https://overwatch.fandom.com/wiki/Overwatch_Wiki Fandom version.]] Also, the [[http://liquipedia.net/overwatch/Main_Page liquipedia Overwatch Wiki]].

** ''Overwatch 2'' itself ended up experiencing a great deal of this as a mix of [[ExecutiveMeddling corporate politics]] and unfortunate circumstances. In January 2022 (shortly after the announcement of Creator/{{Microsoft}} acquiring Creator/ActivisionBlizzard), ''Overwatch'' producer Tracy Kennedy [[https://gamerant.com/overwatch-2-delays-why-bobby-kotick/ publicly called out Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick]] for poor management, alleging that he would regularly shove large projects onto the ''Overwatch'' team, forcing them into overtime [[DevelopmentHell only to cancel said projects]], costing the production of ''2'' months at a time and creating a massive turnover rate (including the losses of director Jeff Kaplan and executive producer Chacko Sonny). [[https://ftw.usatoday.com/2022/04/overwatch-2-interview-devs-geoff-goodman-brandon-brennan Hero designers Geoff Goodman and Brandon Brennan also relayed]] how the one-two punch of Kaplan's sudden retirement and the highly-publicized workplace scandals at Activison-Blizzard left a massive morale hit to the team. The game's ill-fated [=PvE=] elements were downsized significantly due to a combination of anxiety surrounding the game's long-term future (the aforementioned financial issues with the Overwatch League included), and new director Aaron Keller also confirmed that the removal of features promised in the game's future [=PvE=] (namely the Talent trees and general single-player content) had become logistically unfeasible and direction had become far too big to solve. Keller compared this directly to ''Overwatch'''s predecessor project ''Titan'', which similarly was expected to include big gameplay elements like massive hero-exclusive talent trees and high reliability, but were crushed under the sheer size of their scope — the ''Overwatch 2'' team believed they were in a better position [[RefittedForSequel to reintegrate those elements into the successful game that did successfully see the light of day]], but thanks to more unfortunate setbacks [[HistoryRepeats left them still unable to realistically being it all together]].

** ''Overwatch 2'' itself ended up experiencing a great deal of this as a mix of [[ExecutiveMeddling corporate politics]] and unfortunate circumstances. In January 2022 (shortly after the announcement of Creator/{{Microsoft}} acquiring Creator/ActivisionBlizzard), ''Overwatch'' producer Tracy Kennedy [[https://gamerant.com/overwatch-2-delays-why-bobby-kotick/ publicly called out Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick]] for poor management, alleging that he would regularly shove large projects onto the ''Overwatch'' team, forcing them into overtime [[DevelopmentHell only to cancel said projects]], costing the production of ''2'' months at a time and creating a massive turnover rate (including the losses of director Jeff Kaplan and executive producer Chacko Sonny). [[https://ftw.usatoday.com/2022/04/overwatch-2-interview-devs-geoff-goodman-brandon-brennan Hero designers Geoff Goodman and Brandon Brennan also relayed]] how the one-two punch of Kaplan's sudden retirement and the highly-publicized workplace scandals at Activison-Blizzard left a massive morale hit to the team. The game's ill-fated [=PvE=] elements were downsized significantly due to a combination of anxiety surrounding the game's long-term future (the aforementioned financial issues with the Overwatch League included), and new director Aaron Keller also confirmed that the removal of features promised in the game's future [=PvE=] (namely the Talent trees and general single-player content) had become logistically unfeasible and direction had become far too big to solve. Keller compared this directly to ''Overwatch'''s predecessor project ''Titan'', which similarly was expected to include big gameplay elements like massive hero-exclusive talent trees and high reliability, but were crushed under the sheer size of their scope — the ''Overwatch 2'' believed they were in a better position [[RefittedForSequel to reintegrate those elements into the successful game that did launch]], but thanks to more unfortunate setbacks [[HistoryRepeats were ultimately were unable to realistically being it all together]].

** ''Overwatch 2'' itself ended up experiencing a great deal of this as a mix of [[ExecutiveMeddling corporate politics]] and unfortunate circumstances. In January 2022 (shortly after the announcement of Creator/{{Microsoft}} acquiring Creator/ActivisionBlizzard), ''Overwatch'' producer Tracy Kennedy [[https://gamerant.com/overwatch-2-delays-why-bobby-kotick/ publicly called out Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick]] for poor management, alleging that he would regularly shove large projects onto the ''Overwatch'' team, forcing them into overtime [[DevelopmentHell only to cancel said projects]], costing the production of ''2'' months at a time and creating a massive turnover rate (including the losses of director Jeff Kaplan and executive producer Chacko Sonny). [[https://ftw.usatoday.com/2022/04/overwatch-2-interview-devs-geoff-goodman-brandon-brennan Hero designers Geoff Goodman and Brandon Brennan also relayed]] how the one-two punch of Kaplan's sudden retirement and the highly-publicized workplace scandals at Activison-Blizzard left a massive morale hit to the team. The game's ill-fated [=PvE=] elements were downsized significantly due to a combination of anxiety surrounding the game's long-term future (the aforementioned financial issues with the Overwatch League included), and new director Aaron Keller also confirmed that the removal of features promised in the game's future [=PvE=] (namely the Talent trees and general single-player content) had become logistically unfeasible and direction had become far too big to solve. Keller compared this directly to ''Overwatch'''s predecessor project ''Titan'', which similarly was expected to include big gameplay elements like massive hero-exclusive talent trees and high reliability, but were crushed under the sheer size of their scope — the ''Overwatch 2'' believed they were in a better position [[RefittedForTheSequel to reintegrate those elements into the successful game that did launch]], [[HistoryRepeats but ultimately were unable to realistically being it all together]].

* ScheduleSlip: While ''Overwatch 2'' wasn't officially announced in 2019 with an expected release date, the interim between its reveal and expected release date was much longer than what Blizzard (and fans) were hoping for. As development shifted greatly onto ''2'', the presently-live ''Overwatch'' took a backseat, still receiving rebalances and event-based cosmetics, but heroes, maps[[note]]Mostly in terms of those for competitive rotation -- there were a handful of Arena maps built from recycled assets of preexisting maps[[/note]], and other major gameplay updates were put on pause in anticipation for the sequel. When combined with [[TroubledProduction external problems compromising their internal production forecast and necessitating delays]], the usual 2-3 month gap between new hero/map releases ended up pushed to around 3 ''years'' with ''Overwatch 2''[='=]s official release date in late 2022. Even with that forecast, ''2'''s much-advertised PVE content still had to be delayed to an indeterminate 2023 date, with the team explicitly confirming that it wasn't ready for release compared to the multiplayer and that it needed more time.

** The [[ScheduleSlip continuously-delayed]] ''Overwatch 2'' appeared to have experienced a great deal of this, with the most commonly-cited culprit being [[ExecutiveMeddling corporate politics]]. In January 2022 (shortly after the announcement of Creator/{{Microsoft}} acquiring Creator/ActivisionBlizzard), ''Overwatch'' producer Tracy Kennedy [[https://gamerant.com/overwatch-2-delays-why-bobby-kotick/ publicly called out Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick]] for poor management, alleging that he would regularly shove large projects onto the ''Overwatch'' team, forcing them into overtime [[DevelopmentHell only to cancel said projects]], costing the production of ''2'' months at a time. The full extent to it has yet to be disclosed, but Kennedy alleges that the team has experienced a massive turnover rate (including the losses of director Jeff Kaplan and executive producer Chacko Sonny) directly because of Kotick. [[https://ftw.usatoday.com/2022/04/overwatch-2-interview-devs-geoff-goodman-brandon-brennan Hero designers Geoff Goodman and Brandon Brennan also relayed]] how the one-two punch of Kaplan's sudden retirement and the highly-publicized workplace scandals at Activison-Blizzard left a massive morale hit to the team, though they insist they were quickly able to adjust to their mostly-new management.

** The 2020 season of the [[UsefulNotes/ProfessionalGaming Overwatch League]] was hit with a few unexpected snags in its change to a homestand format. Within Blizzard, several popular casters and talent departed before season premiered for varying reasons, from conflicts with management to personal life making traveling unfeasible. Outside Blizzard, [[UsefulNotes/CoronavirusDisease2019Pandemic the COVID-19 outbreak]] caused all play within China and South Korea to be postponed indefinitely before the season even began due to safety concerns, and by March, all homestand events were cancelled worldwide. Arrangements were soon made to have all games played online in the interim, fortunately allowing the Chinese and Seoul teams to start playing again, though this caused a few complications with several NA-based teams with exclusively Korean rosters and staff being relocated back to Korea, with the Vancouver Titans being so wracked with conflict between them and management that the entire roster departed not long after.

** During the beginning of Pride Month in 2023, Blizzard revealed the previously mentioned characters as well as confirming that Pharah is a lesbian and Baptiste is bisexual.

* NamesTheSame: Ashe can be confused for another character of the same name, [[VideoGame/{{Paladins}} Ash from Paladins]], save for the "e" at the end, despite the two characters being in ''completely different class categories'' (Ashe is a damage dealer, Ash is a frontline). You could also confuse these two for Ash from Franchise/{{Pokemon}}, again due to the similar names. You also have Ashe from ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' who, amusingly enough, received a [[WeirdWest High Noon]] skin during 2019.

* ScheduleSlip: While ''Overwatch 2'' wasn't officially announced in 2019 with an expected release date, the interim between its reveal and expected release date was much longer than what Blizzard (and fans) were hoping for. As development shifted greatly onto ''2'', the presently-live ''Overwatch'' took a backseat, still receiving rebalances and event-based cosmetics, but heroes, maps[[note]]Mostly in terms of those for competitive rotation -- there were a handful of Arena maps built from recycled assets of preexisting maps[[/note]], and other major gameplay updates were put on pause in anticipation for the sequel. When combined with [[TroubledProduction external problems compromising their internal production forecast and necessitating delays]], the usual 2-3 month gap between new hero/map releases ended up pushed to around 3 ''years'' with ''Overwatch 2'''s official release date in late 2022. Even with that forecast, ''2'''s much-advertised PVE content still had to be delayed to an indeterminate 2023 date, with the team explicitly confirming that it wasn't ready for release compared to the multiplayer and that it needed more time.

* ScheduleSlip: While ''Overwatch 2'' wasn't officially announced in 2019 with an expected release date, the interim between its reveal and expected release date was much longer than what Blizzard (and fans) were hoping for. As development shifted greatly onto ''2'', the presently-live ''Overwatch'' took a backseat, still receiving rebalances and event-based cosmetics, but heroes, maps[[note]]Mostly in terms of those for competitive rotation -- there were a handful of Arena maps built from recycled assets of preexisting maps[[/note]], and other major gameplay updates were put on pause in anticipation for the sequel. When combined with [[TroubledProduction external problems compromising their internal production forecast and necessitating delays]], the usual 2-3 month gap between new hero/map releases ended up pushed to around 3 ''years'' with ''Overwatch 2'''s official release date in late 2022.

** The [[ScheduleSlip continuously-delayed]] ''Overwatch 2'' appears to be experiencing a great deal of this, with the most commonly-cited culprit being [[ExecutiveMeddling corporate politics]]. In January 2022 (shortly after the announcement of Creator/{{Microsoft}} acquiring Creator/ActivisionBlizzard), ''Overwatch'' producer Tracy Kennedy [[https://gamerant.com/overwatch-2-delays-why-bobby-kotick/ publically called out Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick]] for poor management, alleging that he would regularly shove large projects onto the ''Overwatch'' team, forcing them into overtime [[DevelopmentHell only to cancel said projects]], costing the production of ''2'' months at a time. The full extent to it has yet to be disclosed, but Kennedy alleges that the team has experienced a massive turnover rate (including the losses of director Jeff Kaplan and executive producer Chacko Sonny) directly because of Kotick.

** Kiriko had quite the loose lid before she was officially revealed in September 2022: from as early as 2019, [[https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/11/05/details-on-an-unannounced-overwatch-2-hero an insider from Gameinformer]] identified the silhouette of an upcoming hero resembling a female with fox ears and [[FuumaShuriken a giant shuriken]] weapon, which was later confirmed to be of an early iteration of the character. The name "Kiriko" was [[https://twitter.com/OverwatchNaeri/status/1567709979922305024 accidentally dropped]] during an announcement of the ''Overwatch 2'' RewardsPass, which was indirectly confirmed [[https://www.gamesradar.com/overwatch-2-dev-shoots-down-fox-hero-leak/ when Blizzard shot down a separate "leak" they confirmed to be fake]]. Finally, an incomplete workprint of the ''Kiriko'' cinematic (featuring the Spanish dub and temp music) was leaked onto [=YouTube=] before being taken down.

** Kiriko had quite the loose lid before she was officially revealed in September 2022: from as early as 2019, [[https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/11/05/details-on-an-unannounced-overwatch-2-hero an insider from Gameinformer]] identified the silhouette of an upcoming hero resembling a female with fox ears and [[FuumaShuriken a giant shuriken]] weapon, which was later confirmed to be of an early iteration of the character. The name "Kiriko" was [[https://twitter.com/OverwatchNaeri/status/1567709979922305024 accidentally dropped]] during an announcement of the ''Overwatch 2'' RewardsPass, which was indirectly confirmed [[https://www.gamesradar.com/overwatch-2-dev-shoots-down-fox-hero-leak/ when Blizzard shot down a separate "leak" they confirmed to be fake]].

** Kiriko had quite the loose lid before she was officially revealed in September 2022: from as early as 2019, [[https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/11/05/details-on-an-unannounced-overwatch-2-hero an insider from Gameinformer]] identified the silhouette of an upcoming hero resembling a female with fox ears and [[FuumaShuriken a giant shuriken]] weapon, which was confirmed to be of an early iteration of the character. The name "Kiriko" was [[https://twitter.com/OverwatchNaeri/status/1567709979922305024 accidentally dropped]] during an announcement of the ''Overwatch 2'' RewardsPass, which was indirectly confirmed [[https://www.gamesradar.com/overwatch-2-dev-shoots-down-fox-hero-leak/ when Blizzard shot down a separate "leak" they confirmed to be fake]].

** Unsurprisingly due to ''Overwatch'''s success, the game has inspired other {{Hero Shooter}}s with similar gameplay. Namely ''VideoGame/{{Paladins}}'' which can be described as "''Overwatch'' in a HighFantasy setting", which was accused of riding on the coattails of ''Overwatch'' since release for having similar gameplay mechanics and having superficial character similarities, though the two games just happen to share similar development times.

** The reason for ''Overwatch 2''[='=]s existence and its status as a MissionPackSequel[=/=]UpdatedReRelease sequel is due to this reason. Blizzard, seeing how profitable ''Overwatch'' had become, requested a proper sequel from the development team, but Jeff Kaplan managed to convince them to make it an expansion pack rather than a true sequel, arguing that doing otherwise would split the playerbase, diminish profits, and would be a waste of resources maintaining two otherwise-separate games. To make the transition easier, anyone who owns Overwatch will get upgraded to Overwatch 2 for free, but not the story mode.