Overwatch - Evolving Esports features coming to make game more spectator friendly

[Crushed]

This is more for the esports side of Overwatch than anything else, but it's interesting nonetheless given that, frankly, despite all of the pushing that's been been, OW is really not a spectator friendly game.

Jeff Kaplan video explaining the changes:



Behind the scenes video showing the features in action:




Basically:

-Team colors, home and away variants (home being darker and more saturated). The colors will apply to everything from the characters to the UI to the killfeed to the ability special effects, so the game doesn't look like two rainbow explosions ramming into each other every 30 seconds.

-A new "smart" third person camera for characters like Tracer and Genji that won't be so jerky and unwatchable.

-Interactive 2D spectate mode that shows a top-down view of the game with icons representing players, but attacks and effects still represented with 3D effects overlaid

-Instant replay functionality where every kill gets a 3D demo recording to be played back, paused, moved around, etc. by commentators if they miss it live

-Improved tournament functionality like tracking per player stats over an entire series, and automatically pausing the game in the event of a disconnect



Between this and the Overwatch League, it's been neat to see Blizzard actually trying to build Overwatch as more of a real esport instead of just going "well it's the new Blizzard game, you love it right"

edit: oh, courtesy of the OW reddit, here's the team colors for the national teams playing in the Overwatch World Cup: https://imgur.com/a/kzo5X

 

[A Syrian Communist]

I'm so down for this and I don't even play Overwatch. I tried watching CS:GO once and didn't have a single clue what the heck was going on. The only esports I watch is Smash, and a little Street Fighter.

 

[Deleted member 1041]

Alot of the stuff theyre doing is really cool. League does some of the same stuff for their tournaments(instant replays, clear differentation between both teams, stat tracking down to the last minion) and its cool that Blizzard seems to be doing it at a quick pace.

 

[Deleted member 5545]

why does jeff kaplan always sound like someone's holding a gun to his head in these videos, seriously it gives me some hostage video tape vibes

if they can actually pull off viable spectating for overwatch that'd fix one big problem for its future as an esport so i'm glad they're taking it seriously

 

[Deleted member 6511]

This looks very cool.
Would these things (like the 2D view) be available for someone expectating a game or just like a special broadcasting account?

 

[Sygma]

Knoxxx said that the new spectator mode is amazing on alphacast's stream, so I'm going to believe him.

It ll be up and running from tomorrow anyway ! (World cup)

 

[ROBOKITTYZILLA]

Super excited for these changes. It can be a really fun game to watch and this will improve presentation a lot.

 

[Nimby]

Took a big break from Overwatch eSports, ready to get back into it with the World Cup and League. It's gonna be great, I just hope enough people give a damn.

 

[AHK-Hero]

One of the barriers that every game aspiring to be an esport needs to overcome is the difficulty of making spectating enjoyable.

Each genre has its own challenges. Although MOBAs and RTS games generally have windows into the game space that make viewing important moments easy on the whole, the amount of knowledge needed to comprehend the action and appreciate it tends to be incredibly high.

With FPS games, it can be difficult to follow so many players, and moments that are lost can make the action as a whole difficult to follow.

Fighting games probably have an inherent advantage here because all the action can be captured with no effort from a spectator, and even with a lack of detailed knowledge of game mechanics a viewer can quickly understand that reducing the enemy's health bar with attacks, and defending in a timely manner is where victors are distinguished.

In my mind, games which trend towards a basic rule set like Rocket League and CS:GO have an advantage in capturing and maintaining an audience. With both games, even if I haven't played in a year I can still watch and appreciate the action. With MOBAs, RTSs, Hero Shooters and Collectible Card Games, once I've lost track of what a hero/card's abilities are, the subtleties of each hero vs hero matchup, and what things may have changed in terms of balance in the latest patch, I become lost in the sea of activity on the screen and start to lose my enjoyment while spectating.

All that said, I think there are some really clever changes proposed by the Jeff and the team here. Team colors on the characters extending to even the abilities helps even someone who has been away from the game a while discern the action on the screen. Highlights from the somewhat frantic killfeed broken down in replays can help the casters highlight impressive moments from players and make even a layman appreciate them. I love OverWatch and I'll always come back and play it every so often, but I think now that the initial honeymoon of the game's launch is over they'll have to be diligently improving like this to make sure the esports scene stays healthy.

 

[PinkHazero]

Whoa, all of this is so good. Never even knew I wanted it this bad