Overwatch's development team says it is now planning further ahead than at any point in the game's history, as Blizzard scales up its hero release pipeline and moves toward longer-term narrative planning across seasons.
Speaking during a group press interview I attended, audio and technical narrative director Scott Lawlor described a production model increasingly built around multi-season story arcs.
“We're planning further ahead than we ever have before,” Lawlor said. “I won't say how far, but I'll say we have a lot in the tank that we've already thought about.”
The change reflects Blizzard's move toward yearlong plans that connect heroes, maps, and seasonal updates into a more unified structure, rather than isolated content drops - as they have in the past. Lawlor said this approach helps anchor decision-making across teams. “Now that we're doing these year-long story arcs, it gives us a grounding base,” he said.
During the same interview I attended, art director Dion Rogers also explained that Overwatch's growing hero roster has forced Blizzard to rethink development behind the scenes. With the game now featuring more than 50 heroes, Rogers said the team can no longer approach character creation sequentially and instead develops...
