Why Blizzard Stopped Protecting The Overwatch Formula To Save The Game

After a successful rebrand earlier this year, the mood around Overwatch has been far more positive recently. Speaking to GameSpot at BlizzCon, associate game director Alec Dawson attributed the recent success to ditching the fear of changing core systems--such as the introduction of a Perk system that fundamentally alters hero capabilities--embarking on a year-long narrative, and actively working to break player expectations. "Being able to continue to surprise people is really important," Dawson said. "We've heard a lot from players, like what they're looking for in the game, their return to narrative, and also, more heroes. But at the same time, we're going full-force to those things, but we also want to continue to say, 'Okay, where else can we push? Where else can we actually innovate?' We're just excited to continue to surprise people, and the community's been really receptive to everything we've been doing this year." "It's really about not being fearful of our changes. We have this sense of, 'Okay, we're going to come in and actually expand what your idea of what Overwatch is.' I think that actually, some of the things we've done in the past two years have been at the core …