Another day, another report that Overwatch could, one day, come to the Nintendo Switch. This time, it’s Blizzard senior producer Pete Stilwell who’s stirred up hope about the first-person shooter title coming to the Nintendo console.
Stilwell told GameSpot that Diablo 3’s release on the Nintendo Switch is a good opportunity for Blizzard to explore the console’s technology—something that might one day help Overwatch find its way to Nintendo fans. “Anything is within the realm of possibility,” Stilwell told GameSpot. “Our team was given the task to work on this. If [Overwatch’s] Team 4 picks up that endeavor, that’s on them.”
Related: Overwatch on the Nintendo Switch sounds more and more unlikely—but it’s not ruled out
But right now, Blizzard is only focused on Diablo 3 on the Switch, he added. When asked if Overwatch could one day run on the Switch, Stilwell said that it is, indeed, “feasible.”
StarCraft 2, on the other hand, isn’t as possible. “I think that would be a very difficult port,” Stilwell added. “It would have [to] change the core gameplay.”
Multiple Blizzard developers have talked about the possibility of Overwatch coming to the Nintendo console, but it’s never really sounded like a top priority. It still doesn’t. Overwatch is an evolving game, and the development team is focused on keeping consistent updates ongoing, rather than creating a whole new port. Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan spoke about this in April 2017, saying that it’s just a huge undertaking: “It’s also already challenging right now maintaining three platforms and patching simultaneously, which is something that we’ve finally been able to achieve,” he said.
GameSpot asked Overwatch game producer Matthew Hawley about the possibility a year later in May 2018. He said that if it would be an easy job to get Overwatch on the Switch, it’d already be there. He ended up agreeing with Kaplan, explaining that the development team is focused on supporting the live game on the platforms it’s already on.
So, Overwatch on the Nintendo Switch… it’s still a possibility, but still doesn’t sound like a top priority for the development team.
Published: Aug 16, 2018 02:40 pm