Overwatch received universal acclaim from critics, who praised the game for its accessibility, the diverse appeal of its hero characters, its cartoonish art style, and enjoyable gameplay. An open beta before release drew in nearly 10 million players. Overwatch was unveiled at the 2014 BlizzCon event and was in a closed beta from late 2015 through early 2016.

Some elements of Overwatch borrow concepts from the canceled Titan project. A portion of the Titan team were inspired by the success of team-based first-person shooters like Team Fortress 2 and the popularity of multiplayer online battle arena games, creating a hero-based shooter which emphasized teamwork. Overwatch is Blizzard's fourth major franchise and came about following the 2014 cancellation of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Titan. Blizzard added new characters, maps, and game modes post-release, all free of charge, with the only additional cost to players being optional loot boxes to purchase cosmetic items.

Teams worked to complete map-specific objectives within a limited period of time. Cross-platform play was supported across all platforms.ĭescribed as a ' hero shooter', Overwatch assigned players into two teams of six, with each player selecting from a large roster of characters, known as 'heroes', with unique abilities. The game was first released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in May 2016 and Nintendo Switch in October 2019. Overwatch (also referred to as Overwatch 1 ) was a 2016 team-based multiplayer first-person shooter game by Blizzard Entertainment.

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