A couple of job postings on Blizzard’s website are calling for Lead Software Engineers, Engine and Tools, for “unannounced games/projects.” There is no information on what game it could be, but many, including Eurogamer, are speculating that it could be for an Overwatch campaign.
The postings call for people who are experienced working with a “robust first-person engine for an unannounced project” and have “previous experience working on first-person or other action-oriented games” a plus. There are no other clues that may give away what the project is.
With the dearth of information available, people have been trying to fit the pieces together. How many Blizzard games have a “robust first-person engine?” Only Overwatch does, unless you count the ancient first-person mode in World of Warcraft. And WoW isn’t necessarily “action-oriented.” So, yes, the possibility of the job postings referring to an Overwatch campaign is possible.
More to the point, it wouldn’t be the first time Blizzard has added a campaign mode to a game after launch. Their collectible card game, Hearthstone, has added campaigns (plural) after the game’s launch. Of course, adding such content to a CCG is way easier than doing the same to an FPS like Overwatch. But it’s not out of the realm of possibility.
Furthermore, Overwatch boss Jeff Kaplan has stated that he wants a co-op campaign for the wildly successful hero FPS.
“Everybody knows Blizzard has a passion for storytelling and we also love doing single-player and co-operative campaigns,” Kaplan said. “You see it in a lot of our other games: StarCraft, Diablo, World of Warcraft. There’s a lot of knowledge and passion in the studio around doing single-player content – or, more likely for Overwatch … something more co-operative. But we’re nowhere near having anything like that. It’s a far thought from us right now.”
Whatever it is that those two positions will fill, it won’t be coming to fruition anytime soon. Overwatch just introduced Sombra, the latest hero to join the lineup. They have also added a new Arcade Mode and are testing changes to Symmetra in the Public Test Realm. Their plate is pretty full right now, and any hope of an Overwatch campaign will have to be put on hold until 2017 at least.
