Blizzard President hints at plans to grow the Overwatch IP “beyond” gaming

Blizzard President Mike Ybarra is hinting at future plans for Overwatch as an IP as the company prepares for the launch of OW2’s long-awaited story missions.

Overwatch 2 will finally be releasing its first batch of PvE story content in August with Season 6’s “Invasion,” and it seems like this could be the start of some big things coming up in the OW universe.

In a lengthy message on social media, Ybarra explained how the Overwatch team gave others at Blizzard an early look at Invasion – and it was very well-received.

The Blizzard President also addressed the canceled hero missions aspect of PvE while also voicing support for Overwatch as a franchise, claiming that the series could evolve beyond just video games.

Blizzard boss apologizes for OW2 PvE debacle and teases ‘new opportunities’

Ybarra stated that Blizzard believes in the Overwatch 2 developers even after the decision was made to cut parts of PvE that “simply were never coming to fruition in a way that would meet player expectations.”

The Overwatch devs have been adamant that the planned hero missions were incredibly difficult to design, as they had been pitched years prior with multiple new abilities for every character.

“We understand this can be a let down for players and it hurts us just as much. We also know we can communicate better. The team makes these decisions very, very carefully,” Ybarra said.

He further stressed that Overwatch as an IP is “incredible,” with the teams constantly discussing ways to grow it, indicating big plans for the future.

“We riff about where this incredible IP can go – and it has such opportunity in gaming and beyond,” he added. “The opportunity for this IP is only just beginning.”

While he didn’t elaborate on what the team has in store, one big possibility could be a full Overwatch anime following the success of the short Genesis series on YouTube.

At @Blizzard_Ent we do 'Battle Plan' each month – it's a meeting with everyone in the Studio and we share updates across culture & product.

Today, several members of the @PlayOverwatch team gave the Studio an early look into Invasion, which launches on @battlenet and @Steam on…

— Mike Ybarra (@Qwik) July 27, 2023

Interestingly, Ybarra’s comments on IP growth are similar to remarks he made in the past about StarCraft and the possibility of growing the dormant RTS franchise.

Until then, we’ll have to see how the fan base responds to Overwatch 2 Invasion when it launches on August 10. Keep it locked to Dexerto for all the latest Overwatch news.