Why is Blizzard lacking in animated shorts?

General Discussion
1

2018 hasn’t seen a single animated short and it’s been almost about 8 months since the mast one was released.

I’m not saying that they need to put out more shorts, maybe just more consistently, because when the game first came out, they were releasing them like crazy, as you can tell by the dates below, then REALLY slowed down.

It saddens me because I love the shorts and they give me the lore and some more fluff to the characters that make me want to play the game more. 6 shorts in 2016 (starting in march), 3 shorts in 2017 (full year), NO shorts in 2018 so far and its JULY.

Anyway, that ends my rant, now onto when you think the next short will be released and for who?

DATES -
Recall (Winston) - March 23, 2016
Alive (Widow/Tracer) - April 5, 2016
Dragons (Genji/Hanzo) - May 16, 2016
Hero (Soldier: 76) - May 22, 2016
The Last Bastion (Bastion) - August 18, 2016
Infiltration (Sombra) - November 4, 2016
The Plan (Junkrat/Roadhog) - August 21, 2017
Rise and Shine (Mei) - August 23, 2017
Honor and Glory (Reinhardt) - November 3, 2017

6 Likes
2

Been a while since we have had lore in general.

6 Likes
3

We will probably see a animated short at gamescom 2018 in august i believe, they showed off the animated Bastion short there in 2016 as well as Mei’s short in 2017

2 Likes
4

Exactly, some character’s were never touched on at all really…

Examples being Symmetra and D.Va. Sure they have written backstories but they aren’t the same as comics or shorts…

5

Symm has a comic, though. She was literally one of the first to have a comic.

1 Like
6

Symm has a comic.

D.Va has some stuff they already retconned then unretconned then decided they hadn’t decided or something. I lost track.

7

Yeah I forgot sorry.

Every character has lore. just some are more in depth than others I’m saying.

8

I would kill for some Lucio lore… He’s such an interesting character and yet we didn’t get anything :frowning: Also D.Va…

1 Like
9

D.Va doesn’t have lore right now though. They’re rewriting it. Supposedly.

1 Like
10

Small indie dev and all

3 Likes
11

I think what Blizzard has in resources they probably make up for in corporate redtape. Animations like the ones they make are pretty expensive and time intensive, so the team probably only gets approved for so many.

Comics are less expensive comparatively… but I feel like the lack of lore is probably at least partly down to administrative fiat rather than a lack of interest from the writing team.

12

It does take a while to make an animated short, especially with the quality and details put into these shorts.
Be patient. One will come out according to their schedule plan.

13

Their schedule has become increasingly thin.

14

So what should they do? Drop everything to work on an animated short?

15

Because they’re costly and time consuming.

16

Because they aren’t profitable.

17

I dunno, did they fire or reassign all the staff they did have to make them?

18

They didn’t plan that far ahead.

19

I doubt that. But Overwatch isn’t their only game. Plus you need to consider their work on getting Hammond ready for launch, looking over possible new patches, the Summer Game, Events with the OWL, Skin Ideas, Comic Ideas, Already existing plans for their characters, and then there’s the writing that needs to take place and the only writer they seem to mention a lot is 1 man, Michael Chu.

20

They’ve been able to make more heroes, more videos in the past. Improved their tech and efficiency with experience, but are doing less with it.

That doesn’t mesh.