Overwatch is a series of shorts published by Blizzard Entertainment and released in YouTube in 2016, several computer-generated cinematic trailers and teasers are made, as well as animated short films, to promote and develop the story for their 2016 first-person shooter video game, Overwatch. The shorts have been met with positive reception from fans and online publications alike.

Plot and setting

Overwatch is set in a fictionalized version of Earth, sixty years into the future; the Overwatch organization was established thirty years prior to this future setting. These pre-game events are also chronicled by Soldier: 76 in his origin story video.

The story of Overwatch begins with the in-universe "Omnic Crisis" event; the event's cause is unknown. However, prior to the event, humanity developed omnics, artificial intelligence (AI) that led efforts in creating global economic equality and manufacturing. These AI bots were soon developed by omniums, large facilities designed specifically for their creation. Eventually, the world's omniums began producing hostile omnics that attacked humans; the United Nations (UN) established a task force called Overwatch, composed of soldiers and scientists, in response to this Omnic Crisis. Overwatch was originally led by Gabriel Reyes and Jack Morrison, who are known in the game as Reaper and Soldier: 76, respectively. Morrison's battlefield success helped him take control of Overwatch from Reyes, relegating Reyes to lead Blackwatch, a covert operations division of Overwatch. The Omnic Crisis would eventually end, with Overwatch subsequently presiding over a period of maintained peace; those born in this period would be called the "Overwatch Generation". After a few decades, Overwatch would soon face allegations of corruption, mismanagement, weapons proliferation, and human rights abuses, among others, leading to worldwide protests against the organization. Infighting between Reyes and Morrison also occurred; during a UN investigation of Overwatch, a fight broke out at Overwatch's headquarters, leading to an explosion, which destroyed the building and supposedly killed both Reyes and Morrison. The UN would soon pass a resolution that declared any act in the name of Overwatch illegal. This resolution, dubbed the Petras Act, was signed six years prior to the game's setting. In the Soldier: 76 Origin Story animation, Morrison accounts that the allegations against Overwatch were part of a conspiracy.

Following this back story are five of the first six animated shorts (the exception is Dragons, which takes place during the era in which Overwatch maintained peace), as well as the first cinematic trailer.

Characters

Character Voiced by First appearance Overwatch shorts Overwatch 2 shorts Cinematic Trailer (2014) Season 1 (2016) Season 2 (2016–2018) Zero Hour (2019) OW2 shorts (2022) Playable characters Ana Aysha Selim Recall Ashe Jennifer Hale Reunion colspan="2" colspan="2" Bastion Chris Metzen The Last Bastion colspan="3" Brigitte Matilda Smedius Honor and Glory colspan="2" colspan="2" Cassidy Matthew Mercer Recall colspan="2" D.Va Charlet Chung Shooting Star colspan="2" colspan="2" Echo Lauren Tom (Reunion)Hojo Shin (Zero Hour) Reunion colspan="2" colspan="2" Genji Gaku Space Recall Hanzo Paul Nakauchi Dragons colspan="3" Junker Queen Leah de NieseDavida McKenzie (young) The Wastelander colspan="4" Junkrat Chris Parson The Wastelander colspan="4" Kiriko Sally Amaki Kiriko colspan="4" Mei Elise Zhang Rise and Shine colspan="2" colspan="2" Mercy Lucie Pohl Recall Reaper Keith Ferguson Cinematic Trailer colspan="2" colspan="2" Reinhardt Darin De Paul Recall Roadhog Josh Petersdorf The Wastelander colspan="4" Sojourn Cherise Booth Zero Hour colspan="3" Soldier: 76 Fred Tatasciore Recall Sombra Carolina Ravassa Infiltration colspan="2" colspan="2" Torbjörn Keith Silverstein Recall Tracer Cara Theobold Cinematic Trailer colspan="2" Widowmaker Chloé Hollings Cinematic Trailer colspan="2" colspan="2" Winston Crispin Freeman Cinematic Trailer colspan="2" Wrecking Ball N/A The Wastelander colspan="4" Zarya Dolya Gavanski Infiltration colspan="2" colspan="2" Non-playable characters Alejandra Brigitte Kali Hero colspan="3" Akari Kiriko colspan="4" Asa Yamagami Kiriko colspan="4" Balderich von Adler Piotr Michael Honor and Glory colspan="2" colspan="2" Brian Sam Wiser Cinematic Trailer colspan="4" Dae-hyun Park Johnny Young Shooting Star colspan="2" colspan="2" Geiger N/A The Wastelander colspan="4" Harold Winston Greg Chun Recall colspan="3" Katya Volskaya Gulmira Mamedova Infiltration colspan="2" colspan="2" Meri The Wastelander colspan="4" Mason Howl The Wastelander colspan="4" Noah Tremblay Calling colspan="4" Sojiro Shimada Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa Dragons colspan="3" Tekhartha Mondatta Sendhil Ramamurthy Alive colspan="3" Timmy Kyle Harrison Breitkopf Cinematic Trailer colspan="4" Mr. Yoshida Kiriko colspan="4"

Background and development

Overwatchs animated media is interconnected, taking place in the same continuity. Through this animated media, in conjunction with comics and fictional news reports, Blizzard developed the story of Overwatch, rather than including it in the video game. Within the video game, the story is instead "hinted at through environments and character quips, with each individual personality reacting to the events of the battle in their own way", as Kirk McKeand of The Telegraph detailed.

Jeff Chamberlain, the director of the initial Overwatch cinematic trailer, revealed that Blizzard opted to develop their storytelling through this unconventional method because, "A long time ago we [realized Overwatch] doesn't have a linear storyline, like other games we do," adding that "[Blizzard] has been doing storytelling outside of the game, for Draenor and Legacy of the Void, so we have a precedent for short animations outside the game." Chamberlain said that they "wanted to create a lot of stories as quickly as we could", and in conjunction with making the cinematic release trailer, found the animated shorts to be best way to present these stories. While they were initially focused on exposition with the first shorts, further shorts are more focused on developing these characters and other stories, rather than driving to any narrative conclusion. When these stories have multiple characters involved, Blizzard may opt to instead create a digital comic.

The animated shorts take between six and eight months to complete from storyboarding to rendering, and there are usually two to three shorts in the production line. The animation team sometimes works in conjunction with the art and level design teams; Chamberlain said that the "Watchpoint: Gibraltar" map was developed simultaneously with the Recall short which took place at that location, and the animation and level design team worked to incorporate the assets and ideas developed by the other team. To further develop the game's story, Blizzard released short videos that include animated stills with narrated voice-overs, such as the aforementioned Soldier: 76 Origin Story video. In addition, Blizzard released A Moment in Crime Special Report: "The Junkers", which was a fake news report chronicling the criminal activities caused by Junkrat and Roadhog. Ana was the first character added to the game post-release; beginning with her, each new character has had their addition to the game's playable roster accompanied by a short origin story video. Blizzard used an animated short Junkertown: The Plan, starring Junkrat and Roadhog, to introduce the new Junkertown map for the game during the 2017 Gamescom.

Overwatchs lead designer Jeff Kaplan considers The Last Bastion as the last installment of the first season of animated Overwatch shorts; he detailed: "We think of them as in seasons. That's how we [Blizzard Entertainment] talk about them internally. So our first season started with Recall and ended with The Last Bastion." In 2017, Kaplan stated that a debut for a second season was "making good progress," although the Infiltration short had premiered at BlizzCon 2016, between The Last Bastion and his comments. Kaplan also stated that after the animation team had produced so many shorts in 2016; as a result, the team opted to slow down to prevent burnout, explaining the limited number of shorts in 2017 and 2018.

Release Prior to Overwatchs release, Blizzard released the cinematic teasers We Are Overwatch and Are You With Us?, which featured voice-overs of the game's characters. In the latter, Winston briefly summarizes the Omnic Crisis and recall of Overwatch. Blizzard released their first of the original four animated shorts, Recall, in March 2016. While the PlayOverwatch YouTube channel uploaded the short on March 23, the Xbox YouTube channel premiered it on March 21. The events of Recall precede the events of the cinematic trailer.

Although Blizzard initially announced four animated shorts, a fifth short titled The Last Bastion was announced in August 2016. The short was debuted at Gamescom 2016 and simultaneously streamed on Blizzard.com on August 18. It was also released on the PlayOverwatch YouTube channel on the same day.

Following The Last Bastion, Blizzard continued to release animated cinematic shorts; the release of these shorts often coincided with new character additions to Overwatch, and the shorts often premiered at gaming conventions such as BlizzCon, Gamescom, or TwitchCon.

On November 1, 2019, at that year's BlizzCon event, Zero Hour premiered. The short functioned as announcement cinematic for Overwatch 2. Kiriko premiered on October 7, 2022, as part of TwitchCon and included a deaf child character as a nod to a deaf Overwatch player who developed American sign language gestures for each of the heroes in the game. The Kiriko short featured the song "BOW" by Japanese artist MFS.

Blizzard released Genesis, a three-part animated miniseries on YouTube, which premiered on July 6, 2023.

Cinematic shorts Overwatch (2014–2018) Cinematic trailer (2014)

Season 1 (2016)

Season 2 (2016–2018)

Overwatch 2 (2019–present)

Other animations

+ Short Main character(s) Release Ref. Soldier: 76 Origin Story # Soldier: 76 July 7, 2015 A Moment in Crime Special Report: "The Junkers" ⁕ Junkrat and Roadhog September 21, 2015 We Are Overwatch ¤ Various December 18, 2015 Are You With Us? ¤ Winston May 2, 2016 Ana Origin Story # Ana July 12, 2016 Sombra Origin Story # Sombra November 4, 2016 Orisa Origin Story # Orisa March 2, 2017 King's Row Uprising Origin Story # Tracer April 11, 2017 Hanamura Showdown ∞ Genji, Diablo, and D.Va April 25, 2017 Doomfist Origin Story # Doomfist July 6, 2017 Junkertown: The Plan ⁕ Junkrat and Roadhog August 21, 2017 Moira Origin Story # Moira November 3, 2017 Dragons of the Nexus ∞ Hanzo, Alexstrasza November 3, 2017 Brigitte Origin Story # Brigitte February 28, 2018 Trace & Bake ¤ Tracer & Reaper May 19, 2018 Wrecking Ball Origin Story # Wrecking Ball June 28, 2018 Ashe Origin Story # Ashe November 2, 2018 Overwatch Lúcio-Oh's ⁕ Lúcio November 2, 2018 Cookiewatch ⁕ Tracer & Reaper December 18, 2018 Baptiste Origin Story # Baptiste February 25, 2019 Sigma Origin Story # Sigma July 22, 2019 Echo Origin Story # Echo, Dr. Mina Liao March 18, 2020 Sojourn Origin Story # Sojourn April 13, 2022 Junker Queen Origin Story # Junker Queen June 16, 2022 Kiriko Origin Story # Kiriko September 20, 2022 Ramattra Origin Story # Ramattra November 5, 2022 Lifeweaver Origin Story # Lifeweaver April 8, 2023 @ Dr. Mina Liao July 6, 2023 @ Dr. Mina Liao July 13, 2023 @ Dr. Mina Liao July 20, 2023 Illari Origin Story # Illari August 11, 2023 "Perfect Night" by Le Sserafim ¤ Various October 27, 2023 Mauga Origin Story # Mauga November 3, 2023 Venture's Adventures # Venture April 16, 2024 Control # Juno August 21, 2024 The Hunt Begins # Freja March 19, 2025

Reception