Overwatch Game Director Jeff Kaplan Talks About Battle Royale And The Overwatch Archives Event

With the recent success of Battle Royale games like Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, the Overwatch community has been nagging Blizzard Entertainment for a Battle Royale mode. And, because the devs are avid PUBG players themselves, they actually considered adding one into the game. Unfortunately, the MMO shooter just wasn’t made to be a Battle Royale game. Game Director Jeff Kaplan explains in an interview with Kotaku:

“First and foremost, Overwatch is a game about heroes, and part of what makes the core loop work in a battle royale game is the search, the looting, and the fairness that everybody’s sort of equal. Overwatch wasn’t designed to be a 1v1. Every hero’s not balanced against every other hero.”

Balance issues aren’t the only thing that’s stopping the team from creating a Battle Royale mode. ““I think there are also some technical challenges of large, open game spaces,” Kaplan said. “Our primary engagement distance is usually around 15 to 40 meters. The Hanamura dojo point B is 45 meters across. I don’t think people realize how tiny it is. Part of what makes Fortnite and PUBG so awesome is that you can have these really long engagement distances.”

While a Battle Royale mode may look like a step in the right direction given the immense popularity of Battle Royale games, don’t expect it to appear in Overwatch anytime soon. Even if it is something that the game director himself wants to do. “Building those systems and getting that many players—I think battle royale for Overwatch starts to get into new game territory,” said Kaplan.

That doesn’t mean that there’s nothing new coming to the game though. The Overwatch Archives event will see the return of a bigger and better Uprising Brawl where you get to play through the storyline of your favorite characters. Jeff Kaplan and Lead Engineer Tim Ford talk about the event in the video below.