Developer Update | Deathmatch

Good morning, everyone!
This is Jeff from the Overwatch team.
We're here with another Developer Update.
So, one of the things we see you ask for the most is new game modes.
And, now, I remember back at BlizzCon, I think it was last year, I was once asked: "Are you
guys ever gonna do Deathmatch?"
And the answer at the time was "no."
We just didn't think it was right for the game.
Our thought was that, in both Quick Play and Competitive Play, we always wanted teams
focused on objective-based combat, and not off kind of doing their own thing.
Well, things have changed.
We introduced the Arcade last year, and it's been a really big success for us.
But, the coolest part of the Arcade is it's opened up our ability as developers to introduce
game modes to you guys that wouldn't normally feel comfortable putting in the Quick Play
or Competitive rotation.
So, therefore, the exciting announcement is that Deathmatch is coming soon to the Arcade.
And I think you guys are going to really love it.
So, for those of you who don't know what Deathmatch is, it's probably one of the oldest forms
of FPS gameplay, where the simple goal is to see how many kills you can get on the scoreboard.
And that's right, we've built a special scoreboard just for Deathmatch so you can know how good
you're doing in terms of kills.
Now, there's two different ways that you will be able to play Deathmatch, and I think they're
both awesome for different reasons.
The first, the core mode, that we're just calling "Deathmatch" is completely free-for-all,
meaning it's you against seven other players in a map.
You can pick whatever hero you want, and I guarantee nobody on your team is going to
complain about it.
All you have to prove is that you can get the highest score -- we usually play to 20
in these Deathmatch maps -- that you can get the highest score before anybody else.
You might be wondering, you know, in the Arcade, does that mean I have to beat seven people
every time to get my win to count for my Arcade wins each week, if I want to get my three
loot boxes?
Well, the way we handle that is, if you are in the top half of players in the match -- which,
in this case, means you're the top four -- you will get win credit towards your Arcade loot box.
But, obviously, you really want to be that top player.
And, I have faith in you guys.
I think you can get there.
I think you should really try to be that top player.
So, you might be wondering, well, where do I play Deathmatch -- all the maps are built
for Escort, or Assault, or Control?
Well, we modified a lot of our maps.
Not all of them, but some of the Hybrid and Escort maps and some of Assault maps, we've
modified portions of them to accommodate this Deathmatch mode, and we'll think you'll find
it a lot of fun.
The other thing that we're doing, and perhaps the most exciting to me personally, is we're
introducing a brand new map built specifically for Free-For-All Deathmatch.
Now, not only does this map have great gameplay -- we've put some really cool jump pads, there's
open areas for Pharah to fly around, tight Reaper corridors for you to mess around with...the
gameplay is great -- but I think the story is really cool and the art behind the map
is awesome also.
So, the map is home to Amélie Lacroix.
You might know her better as Widowmaker.
Well, previously, before she was married to Gerard Lacroix, she was known as Amélie Guillard.
Now, this is Chateau Guillard, her family estate in France, and we think you'll find
it amazing and beautiful, and there's going to be slight hints about her background
and what she's currently up to in this map.
So, we think it's going to be a lot of fun.
You have a new custom Free-For-All Deathmatch map to play on in the upcoming patch.
Now, the other mode we've added is Team Deathmatch, and this one very simple to explain.
It's just like the other mode, except that you and your team, which is going to be a
team of six against another team of six, are playing to get to 30 kills, and we'll see
who can get to that 30 kills the fastest.
Mercy Resurrect does some interesting things in this mode, it actually takes kill credit
away from the other team.
So, someone like a Mercy is super valuable to have on your team.
Now, the Team Deathmatch maps use a different pool, because we did a lot of testing and
we found certain things worked and certain things didn't in Team vs. Free-For-All Deathmatch.
For example, the Chateau is not particularly fun for us to play Team Deathmatch on, but
the Arena maps like Black Forest, Necropolis, Ecopoint: Antarctica -- plus some other portions
of other maps that we've done before, like you'll see some of our modified CTF maps -- were
fantastic for this Team Deathmatch mode.
So, we hope you guys will play these.
They're completely different than anything we have in Overwatch.
I like to think of it as a great area to go and blow off steam after a really tough night
of competitive matches.
Or, perhaps you're just starting the night and you want to get warmed up for competitive,
so you can jump in and have some fun there.
The game is completely different, both Free-For-All and Team will bring different elements to
you all.
I think a lot of you who played old-school shooters will really love the vibe that this
brings.
And more important to me is that I look at this as just the beginning of what we could
be doing with the Game Browser and Custom Games and Deathmatch as almost a platform.
So, obviously we have a very basic rule set in there.
We let you pick whatever hero you want, you can actually skip the Kill Cam to respawn
faster in this mode, which a lot of you will really like.
But, we're going to be looking the Game Browser and Custom Games for future iterations of
adding cool and new interesting rules.
I think some of these will be immediately available to you guys.
For example, one of the funnest playtests we had, we made everybody go McCree for two
minutes, and we played as McCree in Free-For-All Deathmatch.
And then, after two minutes, somebody called out "Hey, let's try out Hanzos instead," and
we all went to Hanzos.
I'd love to see you guys trying this stuff in the Custom Game Browser, and maybe eventually
we'll build more rules in the Custom Game Browser that will allow you guys to create
more cool and awesome modes and us along with you on that.
So, anyway, I know at one point I said we would never have Deathmatch in Overwatch.
Well, surprise!
Never say never.
It's coming really soon and we think it's awesome.
Get out there and enjoy it.
Thanks guys!

Developer Update | Deathmatch | Overwatch

Latest Posts