Overwatch Team Looks Back on Sombra ARG

Published: November 9, 2016 9:20 AM /

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overwatch-sombra

As far as Alternate Reality Games go, Blizzard Entertainment's ARG surrounding the elusive Overwatch character Sombra might have been a tad too elaborate for most people.

The ARG, which culminated in the release of a rather awesome animated short introducing the character's persona, was made up of a great many steps, each of which was solved by the community mere hours after it was released. Every step solved led to yet another unsolved mystery that, too, was solved by the community shortly after its introduction. The fact that there were so many steps to solve mixed with several countdown timers that essentially counted down to nothing made the community a tiny bit weary with both the ARG and Blizzard Entertainment's Overwatch team as a whole.

Luckily, Blizzard has heard the internet's (not always very constructive) feedback in regards to the ARG and is planning on doing it better in the future. Speaking to Kotaku, lead hero designer Geoff Goodman had this to say about the ARG:

We were definitely taking the feedback.

I think it was fair, the feedback. We're not very good at ARGs. We've never done one before.

Rachel Day, one of the artists working on Overwatch, also brings up a few good points in favor of the ARG, which was meant to introduce the character's personality to the Overwatch community.
We have this new and interesting character that's all about hacking, but what does that even mean, right?

We're sitting around saying, 'What does hacking mean?' Going through this and showing the puzzles and how intelligent she is and how strong she is. Doing all of this stuff on her own, I think, this was a really great way for us to display that.

And that makes sense. You've got a character that is one of the most dangerous hackers in the game's lore, and her hijacking Blizzard's social media seems like a decent way to introduce the character. It would've all worked out better if it wasn't for the pesky internet and their pesky talents for solving the ARG before BlizzCon, which was where the official unveiling of the character was planned.

Goodman continues to say that a new ARG isn't in the cards at the moment unless an upcoming character could benefit from one.

If you want to give Sombra a go you can try her out on the Public Test Realm for Overwatch.

What did you think of the ARG? Did you like it? Did you dislike it? Let us know in the comments!

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


Chris Anderson
| Staff Writer

I've been playing games since I was just barely able to walk so I might as well write about them.

More Info About This Game
Learn more about Overwatch
Game Page Overwatch
Platforms
PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Release Date
May 24, 2016 (Calendar)
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