History WhatCouldHaveBeen / Overwatch

* [[https://www.gamespot.com/articles/overwatch-director-talks-abandoned-cat-hero-patchi/1100-6449176/ Blizzard naturally had many ideas for heroes that didn't made it into the game]], one of which was a ''cat in a jetpack''. It was cut for being too over-the-top, even by ''Overwatch'''s generous standards.

* [[http://i.imgur.com/AEnJOVd.png?1 The original cast concept]] of ''Overwatch'' displays a very different lineup to the one we know today. While some made the cut (albeit with some minor changes here and there), namely Tracer, Winston, Reaper, Genji, Bastion, Roadhog, Torbjörn, Mercy, and Symmetra, others look like completely different concepts entirely. Among them are a female-looking Omnic baring Athena's logo who was codenamed "Iris" at the time, a SpiderTank, and a large man in red armor (who according to a FreezeFrameBonus in "Recall" canonically still exists as an Overwatch agent).

* [[http://i.imgur.com/AEnJOVd.png?1 The original cast concept]] of ''Overwatch'' displays a very different lineup to the one we know today. While some made the cut (albeit with some minor changes here and there), namely Tracer, Winston, Reaper, Genji, Bastion, Roadhog, Torbjörn, Mercy, and Symmetra, others look like completely different concepts entirely. Among them are a female-looking Omnic, a SpiderTank, an ''insect''-themed '''male''' sniper (believed to be a predecessor to arachnid-themed female sniper Widowmaker), and a large man in red armor (who according to a FreezeFrameBonus in "Recall" canonically still exists as an Overwatch agent).

* As seen in ''The Art of Overwatch,'' [[https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/geyxsnmsd29igso6lixr.jpg one of Lúcio's iterations]] had -- among other things -- turntables on his hips and pants that would light up alongside his music, though it was toned down for being "too distracting during gameplay." Kaplan has stated [[https://us.battle.net/forums/en/overwatch/topic/20755696236#post-2 due to its positive reception, the design may actually still become a skin one day.]]
** [[http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/304/158/ff0.jpg One of Mercy's earlier deigns]] was originally a black man (with white hair) with red accents on his armor instead of orange. He was also going to have a romantic relationship with Genji.
** Mercy as Angela had a more hospital/scrubs-looking CombatMedic appearance than the angelic appearance she has now.
* Doomfist himself went through many design changes throughout his development until settling on his current gameplay. At first, he started out as Tank who was a pure melee Hero. However, as with Genji, they couldn't balance him properly, so they introduce projectiles as part of his kit. He used to be able to [[GrievousHarmWithABody pick up enemy players and use them as human shields or throw them off cliffs]], but that was cut because "he's not a wrestler" (not to mention, it wouldn't exactly make him fun to fight against). He also used to [[DishingOutDirt pick up pieces of the ground and throw them at enemies]]. Also, he used to have a projectile move where he would punch the air, which would create a "phantom fist thing" to shoot out in front of him. Finally, his Ultimate was originally tested out for Orisa before being given to him.

** Mercy was originally a black man (with white hair) with red accents on his armor instead of orange. He was also going to have a romantic relationship with Genji.

* Doomfist was originally never intended to be a playable character. Rather, he was created as a minor background character in order to justify that events of the Cinematic Trailer. However, positive fan reception essentially led to Blizzard making Doomfist a major part of the game, both in gameplay as a playable character and in the lore as one of the {{Big Bad}}s.

** One of Reinhardt's iterations had him be from Numbani and themed after wildebeests (the video highlights [[http://imgur.com/AEnJOVd the giant red and gray armored hero in the center of the original cast concept,]] who notably has been seen alongside Reinhardt in the Cinematic Trailer and made a FreezeFrameBonus in "Recall"). At first the idea was that the character was piloted by a little girl, but he was then switched to his own character in traditional armor. The concept of a tanky character hailing from Numbani who was related to a little girl would later be recycled into the Omnic Orisa and her creator, Efi Oladeele.

** One of Reinhardt's iterations had him be from Numbani and themed after wildebeests (the video highlights [[http://imgur.com/AEnJOVd the giant red and gray armored hero in the center of the original cast concept,]] who notably has been seen alongside Reinhardt in the Cinematic Trailer and made a FreezeFrameBonus in "Recall"). At first the idea was that the character was piloted by a little girl, but he was then switched to his own character in traditional armor.

** One of Reinhardt's iterations had him be from Numbani and themed after wildebeests (the video highlights [[http://imgur.com/AEnJOVd the giant red and gray armored hero in the center of the original cast concept,]] who notably has been seen alongside Reinhardt in the Cinematic Trailer and made a FreezeFrameBonus in ''Recall''). At first the idea was that the character was piloted by a little girl, but he was then switched to his own character in traditional armor.

* WordOfGod confirms that the only characters in the story who currently known that Reaper is Gabriel Reyes are Jack/Soldier: 76, Ana, and Sombra. However, in-game interactions from the beginning of the ''Overwatch'' indicated that his identity was public, as [=McCree=] and Mercy both had interactions with him where they explicitly refer to his former self.

** Reaper was based on a [[ShapedLikeItself "Reaper,"]] who at one point had a crossbow in ''Titan.''

** He was originally intended to have a stealth instant-kill backstab, a la the Spy from VideoGame/TeamFortress2. Needless to say, this wasn't fun to play against, so it was removed.

* The IGN video series [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huS4_V4e3h0 "6 Secrets]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzbNZCISJVU about Overwatch's]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLRSsg-gkVw Heroes by]] Jeff Kaplan" gave some development tidbits and backstories of various heroes:

** Mercy was originally the codename for Pharah (who became "Rocket Dude", "Rocket Queen", then settling on "Pharah"), and Mercy's original codename was "Angelica." This led to an entire year of the dev team being told to "Switch to Mercy" in games, only to switch to Pharah instead.

** One of Reinhardt's iterations had him be from Numbani and themed after wildebeests (the video highlights [[http://imgur.com/AEnJOVd the giant red and gray armored hero in the center of the original cast concept]]). At first the idea was that the character was piloted by a little girl, but he was then switched to his own character in traditional armor. The two characters were seen at the same time in the ''Overwatch'' cinematic, so it's likely the leftover ideas from this character were put into D.va, another girl piloting a robot.

** One of Reinhardt's iterations had him be from Numbani and themed after wildebeests (the video highlights [[http://imgur.com/AEnJOVd the giant red and gray armored hero in the center of the original cast concept]]). At first the idea was that the character was piloted by a little girl, but he was then switched to his own character in traditional armor.

** Mercy was originally the codename for Pharah (who became "Rocket Dude", "Rocket Queen", then settling on "Pharah"), and Mercy's original codename was "Angelica." This led to an entire year of the dev team saying in games "Switch to Mercy," only switching to Pharah instead.

** Widowmaker, Soldier: 76, and Bastion all took ideas from the same "Ranger" class.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huS4_V4e3h0 IGN's "5 Secrets about Overwatch's Support Heroes by Jeff Kaplan"]] gave some development tidbits and backstories regarding Support heroes:

* [[http://i.imgur.com/AEnJOVd.png?1 The original cast concept]] of ''Overwatch'' displays a very different lineup to the one we know today. While some made the cut (albeit with some minor changes here and there), namely Tracer, Winston, Reaper, Genji, Bastion, Roadhog, Torbjörn, Mercy, and Symmetra, others look like completely different concepts entirely. One can't help but wonder how different ''Overwatch'' would've been if ''this'' was the roster. Examples include:
** A female-like Omnic assumed to be the physical manifestation of Athena.
** A SpiderTank.
** An ''insect''-themed '''male''' sniper (who would eventually evolve in the arachnid-themed female sniper Widowmaker).
** A goggle-wearing spiky-haired lady with a crossbow.
** A large man with metal plates and a mohawk.
** A woman wearing a flight suit that resembles a yellow jacket.
** A large man in red armor (theorized by the fans to be Soundquake).
** A large black bald man (speculated to be Doomfist).
** A short man in a hazmat suit (possibly Fusionator).
** Another short man in a red suit that generates electricity.
** A pink-haired mohawk woman with wings and an absolutely {{stripperiffic}} outfit.
** A standard-looking soldier with an assault rifle (who may have become Soldier: 76).
** Even among heroes in the game, there are some differences; Symmetra appears to be controlling a drone similar in appearance to her sentry turrets, and Roadhog's aforementioned pig-face is visible.

** A goggle-wearing spiky-haired man with a crossbow.

** Reinhardt supposedly evolved from a "Juggernaut" class, although according to Jeff, "he is completely different... just the idea of 'big guy with shield' is all that stuck.

** Even among heroes in the game, there are some differences; Symmetra appears to be controlling a drone similar in appearance to her sentry turrets, and Roadhog's aforementioned pig-face is visible.

* [[https://www.gamespot.com/articles/overwatch-director-talks-abandoned-cat-hero-patchi/1100-6449176/ Blizzard naturally had many ideas for heroes that haven't made it into the game]], one of which was going to be a ''cat''. It was cut for being too over-the-top, even by ''Overwatch'''s generous standards.

** Reinhardt supposedly evolved from a "Juggernaut" class, although according to Jeff, "he is completely different... just the idea of "big guy with shield" is all that stuck."

** Genji and Hanzo were originally one cyber ninja in concept. The character however was too unfocused in design due to being crammed with too many ninja weapons and gimmicks. Rather than scrap the idea though, [[DecompositeCharacter the character was made into two brothers.]] Genji inherited the cyborg aspect and sword usage the original character had, while Hanzo inherited the clothes, bow usage, and name.
** Junkrat's Ultimate was originally going to to be shoulder-mounted rocket instead of the RIP-Tire. It was deemed overpowered, and was instead changed to the current Ultimate.
** Reaper's passive ability ''The Reaping'', where he claims the "souls" of his victims for health would've been more literal. Originally, each claimed soul would've prevented Mercy from being able to resurrect said teammate. Had this remained in effect, this would've made Reaper a hard counter to Mercy, and many games that were decided by a Resurrection could've had very different outcomes.
** ''Overwatch'' was going to have a system called "Talents", which were special abilities that could be used to customize your hero as you leveled up. The only known Talent ability belonged to Reaper, who would be able to automatically heal when in Wraith Form. This was scrapped as it was deemed to give players an unfair advantage over others, and would potentially lead to overpowered heroes.
** Soldier: 76 originally had a self-healing syringe that only would've affected him. It was replaced by the Biotic Field, which benefits everyone in the team, instead of him solely.
** Sombra went through several design phases before her final build-- [[https://assets.vg247.com/current//2016/11/overwatch_sombra_concept_art-7.jpg one concept]] shows her possibly being Asian or Native American, while [[https://assets.vg247.com/current//2016/11/overwatch_sombra_concept_art-3.jpg this concept image]] is actually the picture on the "Quien es Sombra?" newspapers that are scattered about Dorado. In addition, at one point in development, her name was Omniblade, [[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-11-06-overwatch-blizzard-talks-sombra-arcade-mode-and-symmetras-overhaul as discussed here]].
** Sombra was also originally conceived as a ''Support'' hero, who would've aided the team by hacking everything in sight, and presumably was much less powerful in combat. Originally, she had no cooldown on the hack and it couldn't be interrupted, but this made her hard to use because it required her to know everything on the map, and testers simply didn't have fun with it. Naturally, they changed her into being an Offense hero with a more focused playstyle and a stronger weapon, leading to the Sombra we know today.
** Very early images of Overwatch-- mainly a group shot in the cinematic trailer-- show that Overwatch's original membership may have included Pharah, Lucio, Bastion, and Zenyatta.
** A 100 page graphic novel called ''Overwatch: First Strike'' was planned for release around November 2016, and would have focused on the founding of Overwatch during the Omnic Crisis. It was cancelled at the last second due to the plot of the novel differing to how the universe developed elsewhere.
** Roadhog and Junkrat were originally going to be much more grotesque, early concepts had them as mutants with Roadhog actually having a pig's head.

* Mei was originally conceptualized as a mountain-climbing adventurer with the possible ability to scale walls, and one of her names in development was Frostbite.
** Another concept of her, revealed by Michael Chu at GDC 2017, was that she would be a bounty hunter, using her freeze gun to capture her marks.

* [[http://i.imgur.com/AEnJOVd.png?1 The original cast concept]] of ''Overwatch'' displayed a very different lineup to the one we know today. While some made the cut (albeit with some minor changes here and there), namely Tracer, Winston, Reaper, Genji, Bastion, Roadhog, Torbjörn, Mercy, and Symmetra, others look like completely different concepts entirely. One can't help but wonder how different ''Overwatch'' would've been if ''this'' was the roster. Examples include: