Blizzard Entertainment’s prolific multiplayer shooter, Overwatch, is something of a big thing in the industry. With record-breaking player counts, a huge online community and a burgeoning professional eSports scene fuelled by the constant output of controversies by the OWL. Overwatch shows definite potential for becoming a franchise, and it also proves Blizzard can absolutely do shooters - but it’s also a tad early for a sequel.
And yet Blizzard Entertainment is looking for a senior game designer to work on an unannounced project in Irvine, “with experience in developing weapons, abilities, and gameplay systems in action or first-person shooter games”. Additionally, the designer would “work with team leadership to design units, weapons, and abilities”, alongside other tasks related to game modes, level design and more. These descriptions aren’t all-revealing, and the direction of games change a lot during development, however we do glean some hints.
One of the key words is “units”. Even though this is just a variant word used for various characters that appear in the game, “units” usually refer to a wholly different gameplay mechanic and environment than, say, “heroes”. Units is ostensibly a strategy game term, yet the rest of the description is aimed at first-person shooters and action games. Blizzard has been working on this project some time now, based on previous job postings with similar descriptions.
The two most popular theories were single-player, narratively driven Overwatch content, and the other was a shooter set in the StarCraft universe, possibly a re-designed, re-worked and rebuild Ghost title, like the one that was eventually canceled, then somewhat unceremoniously revived as a mission pack for regular old RTS StarCraft 2. However, the applicant must have an “absolute passion for playing and creating PvP game experiences”.
This basically cans both theories. Now, if a senior game designer is being hired now, it may mean that this project will only come to fruition several years from now, and that time-frame would make a new Overwatch title more timely. In the meantime, if you think you’re a fit or know someone who is… well, we could think of worse gigs than Blizz.
