The Overwatch staff finally reveals the real reason why they decided to scrap the game's major comic book, First Strike, before its release. Incidentally, Blizzard will be selling the game's official art book and a comic anthology.
Blizzard announced a comic for its iconic first-person shooter game which was originally supposed to be released last November. Unfortunately, it decided to not push through with its plans without a proper explanation why. However, Game Developer Jeff Kaplan has finally revealed the reason behind the mysterious cancellation.
According to PVP Live, one major factor was the team's perfectionism when it came to narratives. Kaplan stated that while the art was beautiful and the writing was excellent, it concretely canonized specific events and characterization. One major reason why the game is popular is that of the fan interaction.
The game's characters and lore have been molded by the hands of the fans evident by the number of fanfiction and art on the internet. In line with this, the game director noted that the team second guessed their version of the Omic crisis in First Strike after listening to the players and the stories they were making for the game.
Similarly, the fanbase tends to erupt whenever it comes to shipping the heroes and their respective past. First Strike would only limit the creativity fans have offered and thus remove the emotional investment fans have spent so much time in.
Even so, Blizzard is still releasing more art for players to collect. Dot Esports shares that Blizzard Entertainment has partnered up with Dark Hose Comics to release two books. One will be the artbook, The Art of Overwatch, which is a 368-page collection of "never-before-seen-art" and commentary from the team. The standard edition will cost $50 while the limited edition comes with a special clamshell box and three prints chosen from the team which will all cost $100.
The other comic is the Overwatch: Anthology Volume 1 which features a collection of the 12 issues that Blizzard released so far. Each comic tells the backstory of numerous characters from the game and will cost $20.00. These books will officially hit the stores by October for those who are interested in the products.
