2020 is officially the era of great video game adaptations, and we’ve been getting multiple hits with series like Sonic the Hedgehog, Fallout, and Arcane.
Despite the great animated shorts, Overwatch is still yet to receive its own animated spinoff, but game director Aaron Keller says he would very much want that to happen down the line.
Keller on an Overwatch TV Series
In a recent interview with @emonggtv (via @OWCavalry), Keller says, "It would be awesome to get something like that. I would love it, and I think the whole team would love it."
Keller didn’t say anything specific about an adaptation, but it was reported last year that Netflix and Blizzard were developing adaptations for several hit game franchises, namely, Overwatch, Diablo, and Starcraft.
As it turns out, Blizzard had burned that bridge with Netflix after they sued the streaming giant for poaching Spencer Neumann, and now the Overwatch series is just sitting in the dust, waiting for someone else to pick it up (but most definitely not Netflix).
Overwatch in Animation
Even before Arcane was even a thing, Overwatch had been standing out with their amazing animated shorts that not only were filled with great character work but were also marvellous technical achievements.
At some point, fans thought that if an Overwatch animated movie would happen, it would definitely look like the released shorts. Here’s the one covering Reinhardt’s backstory:
It’s unclear if the Overwatch series that was cooking on Netflix was aiming for this kind of quality, but seeing that Arcane was considered such an achievement in animation, it was likely that Blizzard wanted to compete with their own Netflix series. Too bad that just isn’t going to happen anytime soon.
What Do Fans Want?
Looking at the comments of the post, several fans want an Overwatch animated spinoff to happen. Though the characters work great in the game, Overwatch has been commended for being able to enrich each of the characters in the game with their unique backstories, no matter how outlandish some may seem, like a genius hamster that pilots a ball and is a celebrity in a Mad Max-style wasteland.
Though a series may be too out there when it comes to matching the quality of the animated shorts, some fans have suggested that maybe Blizzard can do a full animated movie with most of the game characters.
The lore is already pretty much established, and with Overwatch 2 not being able to deliver on their PvE promises, maybe an animated movie in the next few years could be the fans’ consolation prize for what Overwatch 2 turned out to be.
Besides, with Marvel Rivals apparently kicking the game’s ass recently, Overwatch 2 needs something big to draw the audience back in, and no, another waifu from Denmark is not going to be enough to cut it.
Overwatch 2 is currently available for PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 4|5.