Overwatch Blizzard/Developer Post Directory - Last Updated: 9/12/2019

[Kaedi-11739]

Development and History

Game Development Facts

DEVELOPER BIOGRAPHY

• Jeff Kaplan’s sensitivity is the default setting in Overwatch - Jeff Kaplan - November 2nd, 2018 - Twitch
• Lead Engineer Bill Warnecke answers questions about his role with the Overwatch Development Team - Bill Warnecke - 3/1/2018 - Official Forums
• Lead Engineer Bill Warnecke answers questions about his role with the Overwatch Development Team - Bill Warnecke - 3/1/2018 - Reddit
• Community Manager Josh Engen also provides details about several developers for Overwatch - Josh Engen - 3/2/2018 - Official Forums
• Lead Engineer Bill Warnecke details a little about himself - Bill Warnecke - 2/20/2018 - Official Forums
• Jeff Kaplan shares some details about how much console Overwatch he plays - Jeff Kaplan - 10/31/2017 - Old Official Forums
• Jeff Kaplan reveals the highest experience level player he has seen in the game - Jeff Kaplan - 7/7/2017 - Old Official Forums
• Jeff Kaplan explains his interpretation of ‘GG’ - Jeff Kaplan - 9/18/2017 - Old Official Forums
• Wolfenstein 3D was Chu’s first FPS - Michael Chu - 8/16/2017 - Old Official Forums
• Wolfenstein 3D was Kaplan’s first FPS - Jeff Kaplan - 8/3/2017 - Old Official Forums
• Jeff Kaplan gives his tips on how to counter Tracer - 3/25/2017 - Old Official Forums
• Jeff Kaplan shares what his favorite maps are - Jeff Kaplan - 3/13/2017 - Reddit
• Jeff Kaplan was most excited with Pharah’s development - Jeff Kaplan - 3/13/2017 - Reddit
• Jeff Kaplan shares that he can’t really participate in the game’s voice chat due to being recognized too often - Jeff Kaplan - 3/13/2017 - Reddit
• Jeff Kaplan reveals he plays on all three platforms - Jeff Kaplan - 3/13/2017 - Reddit
• Jeff Kaplan reveals the first hero he played was Tracer (because it was the first hero developed) - Jeff Kaplan - 11/15/2016 - Old Official Forums
• Jeff Kaplan gives detailed information about Team 4 - Jeff Kaplan - 8/2/2016 - Old Official Forums

DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES

• Bill Warnecke explains the difficulties of having a smooth patch launch in all parts of the world - Bill Warnecke - 1/25/2019 - Official Forums
• Jeff Kaplan reassures the community that they are hard at work on the game and explains why they have not be active on the official forums - Jeff Kaplan - 12/10/2018 - Official Forums
• Bill Warnecke follow up with the challenges of bring servers to new regions in the world - Bill Warnecke - 9/29/2018 - Reddit
• Bill Warnecke shares details on the challenges of bring servers to new regions in the world - Bill Warnecke - 2/1/2018 - Reddit
• Bill Warnecke explains why Blizzard does not necessarily respond to bug reports - Bill Warnecke - 9/30/2017 - Reddit
• Bill Warnecke explains how Blizzard will process bug reports - Bill Warnecke - 1/31/2018 - Reddit
• Winston is the hardest character to animate - Jeff Kaplan - 4/18/2018 - Official Forums
• Jeff Kaplan explains the legal challenges for creating national flag player icons - Jeff Kaplan - 12/6/2017 - Old Official Forums
• Jeff Kaplan explains why many stats are not available to public - Jeff Kaplan - 3/13/2017 - Reddit
• Jeff Kaplan details about the hero design process - Jeff Kaplan - 3/13/2017 - Reddit
• Jeff Kaplan hints at how game design revolves around the game’s business model - Jeff Kaplan - 3/13/2017 - Reddit
• Jeff Kaplan shares details about the Business Intelligence Team at Blizzard - Jeff Kaplan - 3/13/2017 - Reddit
• Jeff Kaplan reveals Bastion has the most development changes in early development/beta - Jeff Kaplan - 3/13/2017 - Reddit
• Jeff Kaplan explains the “crawl, walk, run” pace of developing new heroes and new content into Overwatch - Jeff Kaplan - 3/13/2017 - Reddit
• Overwatch for Switch would be ‘very challenging’ to do - Jeff Kaplan - 3/13/2017 - Reddit
• Jeff Kaplan states the hardest things to design is the Competitive Mode, Leaver System, and the overall business model of the game - Jeff Kaplan - 3/13/2017 - Reddit
• Jeff Kaplan reveals the team continues to work and develop hero and idea concepts when possible - Jeff Kaplan - 3/13/2017 - Reddit
• Jeff Kaplan shares that developing certain features takes more time and others depending on the complexity of the feature - Jeff Kaplan - 3/13/2017 - Reddit
• Jeff Kaplan explains the challenging in prioritizing content and development for Overwatch - Jeff Kaplan - 2/17/2017 - Old Official Forums
• Jeff Kaplan reflects on the reaction from the Sombra ARG - Jeff Kaplan - 2/16/2017 - Old Official Forums
• Jeff Kaplan explains challenges as they continue to develop Overwatch - Jeff Kaplan - 8/2/2016 - Old Official Forums

DEVELOPMENT HISTORY

• Bill Warnecke describes what the launch of Overwatch was like from their end - Bill Warnecke - 6/12/2019 - Reddit

• Jeff Kaplan shares a video of Baptiste’s early Immortality Field prototype - Jeff Kaplan - 3/22/2019 - Reddit

• Jeff Kaplan share what it was like when he first played Overwatch - Jeff Kaplan - 6/8/2018 - Official Forums

• An Interview from The Daily Mail with Matthew Hawley and Geoff Goodman explaining the early hero balance challenges when first making the game - Matthew Hawley and Geoff Goodman - 6/8/2017 - Internet Article

• Overwatch - Archives - REQUIRES BLIZZCON VIRTUAL TICKET - Jeff Kaplan and Arnold Tsang - 11/6/2017 - BlizzCon

• Jeff Kaplan gives details about Team 4 and the overall effort it takes to develop Overwatch. - Jeff Kaplan - 9/29/2017 - Old Official Forums

• Jeff Kaplan explains how pro players influence the Overwatch development process and hero balancing - Jeff Kaplan - 9/19/2017 - Old Official Forums

• A brief development History of Doomfist - Michael Chu - 7/28/2017 - Old Official Forums

• Jeff Kaplan gives a brief history into Project Titan - Jeff Kaplan - 3/13/2017 - Reddit

• Jeff Kaplan reveals that some concepts from Project Titan did get developed into Overwatch - Jeff Kaplan - 3/13/2017 - Reddit

• Jeff Kaplan compares Overwatch to Team Fortress 2 - Jeff Kaplan - 3/13/2017 - Reddit

• Jeff Kaplan explains why he moved on from WoW to work on Project Titan - Jeff Kaplan - 3/13/2017 - Reddit

• Jeff Kaplan gives a brief history on planning Overwatch for consoles - Jeff Kaplan - 3/13/2017 - Reddit

• Jeff Kaplan answers multiple questions about the development of Overwatch - Jeff Kaplan - 3/13/2017 - Reddit

• Michael Chu explains a bit of the hero development process - Michael Chu - 3/8/2017 - Old Official Forums

• Jeff Kaplan’s DICE Summit - Explains how making Overwatch is meant to show a future world worth fighting for - Jeff Kaplan - 2/22/2017 - YouTube

• Jeff Kaplan explains the decisions behind voice actors in comparison to providing authenticity - Jeff Kaplan - 12/21/2016 - Old Official Forums

• Jeff Kaplan details on the internal development process of new heroes - Jeff Kaplan - 12/21/2016 - Old Official Forums

• Jeff Kaplan reveals that back in the beta that healers originally could only restore health points and not shield or armor points - Jeff Kaplan - 11/3/2016 - Old Official Forums

• Jeff Kaplan explains how Ana is on top of the Temple of Anubis arch in her gameplay video - 7/12/2016 - Old Official Forums

• Jeff Kaplan gives a preview to the development plan for Overwatch since launch - 6/9/2016 - Old Official Forums

• An Interview with Michael Chu explores how Global Inclusion is a major focus in the game - Michael Chu - 5/25/2016 - Internet Article

• The headshot sound effect is made by the sound of a beer cap opening - Paul Lackley - 5/24/2016 - Internet Article

• BETA: Road to Launch (end of Closed Beta) - Jeff Kaplan - 4/18/2016 - Developer Update Video

• BETA: Open Beta - Jeff Kaplan - 3/7/2016 - Developer Update Video

• BETA: Beta is Back (Introduction of new progression system, Introduction of Control Maps, In - Jeff Kaplan - 2/9/2016 - Developer Update Video

• BETA: Evolution of Progression System (Earning Cosmetics, Scraped systems which powered up specific heroes and had individual hero leveling to earn cosmetics) - Jeff Kaplan - 12/16/2015 - Developer Update Video

• BETA: Popular Community Topics (Heroes and Maps are free when added, Quality of Life features) - Jeff Kaplan - 12/7/2015 - Developer Update Video

• BETA: Matchmaking and Hero Balance - Jeff Kaplan - 11/28/2015 - Developer Update Video

• BETA: Jeff Kaplan introduces the Closed Beta - Jeff Kaplan - 10/27/2015 - Developer Update Video
   

Interviews with the Community

INTERVIEWS/PANELS

• Stylosa interviewed Jeff Kaplan about Baptiste - Jeff Kaplan - 2/26/2019 - Youtube
• Stylosa interviewed Jeff Kaplan about Role Queue and Limiting 2/2/2 - Jeff Kaplan - 2/26/2019 - Youtube
• Karq interviews with Jeff Kaplan in the Creator’s Residency about Baptiste - Jeff Kaplan - 2/26/2019 - Twitch
• Scott Mercer interview with YouTube personalities Freedo and Liam (Your Overwatch) - Scott Mercer - 11/5/2018 - YouTube
• Matthew Hawley and David Kang is interviewed by various press at the Korean Fan Festival - Matthew Hawley and David Kang - 8/22/2018 - YouTube
• Scott Mercer and Ben Dai is interviewed by the various press at the Korean Fan Festival - Matthew Hawley and David Kang - 8/22/2018 - YouTube
• Jeff Kaplan is interviewed by YouTube personality Stylosa (Unit Lost Gaming) - Jeff Kaplan - 6/14/2018 - YouTube
• Jeff Kaplan and Aaron Keller interview with YouTube personalities Freedo and Liam (Your Overwatch) - Jeff Kaplan and Aaron Keller - 11/6/2017 - YouTube
• Jeff Kaplan answers several game related questions about the first year of Overwatch - Jeff Kaplan - 5/26/2017 - Internet Article
• Jeff Kaplan answers several game related questions for Overwatch - Jeff Kaplan - 5/17/2017 - YouTube
• Michael Chu answers several game related questions including why no spellcasters, why no map selection, and why no scoreboards - Jeff Kaplan - 5/23/2016 - Internet Artcile
   

Technical Support

Connection Troubleshooting - PC

• Jeff Kaplan explains what happens when a player is missing when a game begins - Jeff Kaplan - 8/30/2018 - Official Forums
• Bill Warnecke details how the game connects to certain servers and if there is a connection issue -Bill Warnecke - 6/19/2018 - Reddit
• PC Connection Troubleshooting - Blizzard Support
• Overwatch Network Diagnostic Tools - Blizzard Support
• If you need additional help with disconnections in Overwatch please visit the Tech Support forum or start a web ticket with Blizzard.
   

Connection Troubleshooting - Console

• Console Connection Troubleshooting - Official Forums
• Console Connection Troubleshooting - Blizzard Support
• Overwatch Network Diagnostic Tools - Blizzard Support
• If you need additional help with disconnections in Overwatch please visit the Tech Support forum or start a web ticket with Blizzard.
   

Performance/Crashes Troubleshooting - PC

• Bill Warnecke explains the various causes of the Rendering Device Lost error - Bill Warnecke - 3/27/2019 - Reddit
• Crashes? Performance Issues? Known Issues Here! - Official Forums
• “Your Rendering Device Has Been Lost” - Official Forums
• Patching and Installation Troubleshooting - Official Forums
• Patching and Installation Troubleshooting - Blizzard Support
• Overwatch Lockups and Crash Errors - Blizzard Support
• Overwatch Performance Issues - Blizzard Support
• Scan and Repair Blizzard Games - Blizzard Support
• Overwatch PC System Requirements - Blizzard Support
• If you need additional help with crashes in Overwatch please visit the Tech Support forum or start a web ticket with Blizzard.
   

Performance/Crashes Troubleshooting - Console

• Xbox one console how tos - Official Forums
• PlayStation4 console how tos - Official Forums
• Link a Battle.net Account to your Console Account - Blizzard Support
• If you need additional help with crashes in Overwatch please visit the Tech Support forum or start a web ticket with Blizzard.
   

Overwatch E-Sports

Overwatch League

• Jeff Kaplan details the features of the Overwatch League spectator client and how pros don’t see the skin team colors or effects from their view - Jeff Kaplan - 2/15/2019 - Official Forums
• Bill Warnecke shares details how the spectator highlight feature works for Overwatch Esports - Bill Warnecke - 1/31/2018 - Reddit
• Rules and Code-of-Conduct
• The inaugural season, explained
• Nate Nanzer explains the Overwatch League at BlizzCon 2017
• About the Overwatch League 2017-2018 season
• Official website for the Overwatch League
• Official Twitch for the Overwatch League
   

Overwatch World Cup

• Official website for the Overwatch World Cup
• Official Twitch for the Overwatch World Cup
   

Overwatch Contenders

• Official website for the Overwatch Contenders
• Official Twitch for the Overwatch Contenders
   

Overwatch Open Division

• Official website for the Overwatch Open Division