Overwatch: First Strike graphic novel cancelled
"We've ultimately decided to take the story in a different direction."
Overwatch: First Strike, the graphic novel covering the origins of Blizzard's popular competitive shooter, has been cancelled.
"While we are grateful to the team for the fantastic work they put into it, we've ultimately decided to take the story in a different direction," said Overwatch lead writer Michael Chu on the Battle.net blog.
"The original idea for the graphic novel dates back to the early days of the game's development and came from our desire to tell the story of the founding of Overwatch during the Omnic Crisis. In the years since First Strike's conception, we have done a lot of development on the universe and its stories. While the core of this story remains, we have changed and expanded upon how we see the events that took place during the first days of Overwatch."
Overwatch: First Strike was being written by graphic novel scribe and Blizzard writer Micky Nielsen (Ashbringer, Pearl of Pandaria) and illustrated by Ludo Lullabi (World of Warcraft: The Comic, Ashbringer).
Despite the comic book getting canned, Chu is adamant that Blizzard is still planning to expand the story of Overwatch in other ways. "So for now the early adventures of Gabriel Reyes, Jack Morrison, Ana Amari, Reinhardt Wilhelm, Torbjörn Lindholm (and more!) wait for another day. But we know that this is a story that you are excited about, and it's one we still plan to tell," he said.
For a primer on the story so far, our Overwatch aficionado Bertie Purchese put together a detailed analysis of the game's lore.
Don't forget that Overwatch is free to play this weekend.