Overwatch's Play of the Game getting an overhaul to 2.0 ... eventually

Blizzard knows it doesn't work quite right, but it's all about prioritzing.

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The Play of the Game feature in Overwatch is pretty cool and a great way to recognize a player's stellar play - in theory any way. While it works on occasion, it more than likely gives props to a fluke or something nonsensical. And some heroes, like Mercy as a healer, rarely get the spotlight.

Blizzard knows the issues, and they are working on a revamp to the system, tentatively called Play of the Game 2.0. “It’s been on the books for a little while," Overwatch lead hero designer Geoff Goodman told Kotaku. "It’s just a matter of prioritizing everything. We have a lot of really cool ideas. We want to do a lot with the camera work. We have ideas for cooperative Play of the Games. Because what we have right now, is Zarya could ult, and then Genji gets the credit. And that’s like, ‘Come on!’ So we want to highlight the combo play itself, to show both."

Goodman said that the team has made changes to it on a regular basis, but nothing that has really shown up to players. The major revamp should address the issues, but as always, the engineering and behind-the-scenes work requires testing. "There’s some tricky things there, like how do we handle Play of the Game intros, and how do we decide who gets credit.”

Contributing Editor
From The Chatty
  • reply
    November 7, 2016 7:53 AM

    John Keefer posted a new article, Overwatch's Play of the Game getting an overhaul to 2.0 ... eventually

    • reply
      November 7, 2016 7:59 AM

      And some heroes, like Mercy as a healer, rarely get the spotlight.

      jesus christ if only this was true.

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        November 7, 2016 8:00 AM

        haha, yeah, I don't think that's been true since the beta.

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        November 7, 2016 8:01 AM

        It is true. She never gets a POTG for healing that wins a team fight. Only big revives.

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          November 7, 2016 8:03 AM

          That's always true in these games, though. It's always the damage dealer who riddles off multiple kills that gets the glory, while the tank/support who actually created the space necessary for the play goes unnoticed by the commentators and 99% of the viewers.

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            November 7, 2016 8:16 AM

            Doesn't have to be with the POTG system though. It could be tuned to identify those moments better.

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              November 7, 2016 8:23 AM

              It's easy to say "algorithms can be tuned to do X" but often times those statements are exactly impossible.

            • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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              November 7, 2016 8:29 AM

              Part of the point of PotG is to be exciting to watch though. A healer sitting in the backlines diligently healing during a team fight might be the reason their team won, but if it's boring to watch then it's not worth highlighting.

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        November 7, 2016 8:02 AM

        Right? It's basically a running joke that a Mercy 2x res will get POTG. As a Zarya main though I wouldn't mind feeling some love. I hand out POTGs like candy to Pharah, Genji, and Rein.

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