Overwatch

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Overwatch

"Overwatch Cover" [1] Type Video Game Launch Date May 24, 2016 Status Active Product Line product Platform Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 Website https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/

Overwatch is a video game created by Blizzard Entertainment and was released on May 24, 2016. Overwatch is a first-person shooter genre game, with 24 different heroes to choose from to play. Each hero has a different style of play, and each player picks a hero based off of their preferred style of play. There are 6 players on each team in the standard game mode, with 2 teams per match total. There are four main categories of hero play styles: tank characters, offensive characters (often referred to as DPS, which stands for damage per second), defensive characters, and support characters. Different combinations of these heroes can lead to different strategies within the game. Overwatch is often praised for its diverse cast of characters.

Gameplay

A standard Overwatch game consists of 2 teams and 12 players--6 players on each team. Each player must select a hero from the hero pool and wait in a holding area until the match starts, at which point the gates to the holding area for each team are released. Each team races towards an objective in order to contest the objective. Objectives range from payloads (which the attacking team must escort, and the defending team must ensure that the attacking team does not escort the payload) to holding points. Matches last until the objective is completed, or until the time runs out.

There are other non-standard game modes, such as 3v3 matches, or fun holiday-themed campaigns. These are listed under the "Arcade" game modes, where you can win up to 3 matches a week to obtain a loot box.

Heroes

	Name		Name		Name		Name
	Ana		Bastion		D.Va		Genji
	Hanzo		Junkrat		Lucio		McCree
	Mei		Mercy		Orisa		Pharah
	Reaper		Reinhardt		Roadhog		Soldier: 76
	Sombra		Symmetra		Torbjorn		Tracer
	Widowmaker		Winston		Zarya		Zenyatta

Loot Boxes

Overwatch has a vanity system in which players can obtain skins for their heroes from loot boxes. Loot boxes are obtained either from leveling up your account (done by completing games) or by purchasing with real money. In each loot box, there are 4 items. Items can be skins (appearance changes for heroes), sprays (art you can put on walls and floors in the middle of matches), voice lines for heroes, victory poses (a pose your chosen hero strikes at the end of a won match), highlight intros (an animation that plays if you are selected for the play of the game during each match), or in-game currency. There are tiers of vanity items--common, rare, epic, and legendary. Vanity items can either be looted from loot boxes or purchased with in-game currency. Common items are worth the least, rare items are worth the second-least, epic items are worth the second-most, and legendary items are worth the most. If a player receives a duplicate item, the player is automatically refunded a set amount of in-game currency.

Professional Scene

Blizzard Entertainment is sometimes criticized for a lack of proper management over their competitive Overwatch scene. As it stands, there is currently no Blizzard-sponsored Overwatch tournament that exists. Instead, tournaments are created by third-party sponsors. It is unknown whether or not Blizzard has any plans to change this at this time.

One of the tournaments in place for Overwatch as of right now is Tespa, although this is only at a collegiate level. Over $100,000 worth of scholarship prizing was offered by Tespa in a tournament in Fall of 2016.

Ethical Concerns

There has been controversy over Overwatch's loot box system, because the base game is $40 for PC and $60 for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The base game is fully functional without the loot boxes, but players are upset, because they should be able to access the entire functionality of the game without paying more money than they already spent on the base game. This is a common complaint for downloadable content, or DLC for short, in other games outside of Overwatch as well.