Fans of Overwatch’s lore will have to wait longer to find out about Overwatch’s origins; Overwatch: First Strike has officially been cancelled.
First Strike was set to be a 100 page graphic novel about the early days of Overwatch, long before some of the heroes took the form we know and play as today. It was to be published by Dark Horse and slated for an April 2017 release, with an artbook to follow in Summer 2017.
Now, it appears that we will not be getting First Strike (no word yet on the artbook). Lead writer Michael Chu took to the Blizzard forums to explain: “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.
So for now the early adventures of Gabriel Reyes, Jack Morrison, Ana Amari, Reinhardt Wilhelm, Torbjorn 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.”