Earlier last year, it was announced that Overwatch lead writer Michael Chu would be departing Blizzard after working for the company for twenty years. Chu was responsible for designing the lore and story of the multiplayer FPS, but now a recent report reveals he will be putting his talents towards a new project with 2K Games' new studio 31st Union.
At the time of writing, there have been no official announcements about what the studio is working on, but it's likely to be something which could compete with the might of Overwatch. Chu joined 31st Union in July 2020 and has since made it clear that he wishes to continue creating "inclusive characters" which represent his own values. The new studio is co-led by Michael Condrey of Call of Duty and Dead Space fame. Job postings uploaded by the studio suggests this latest project will be a "multiplayer character-action" AAA game not too dissimilar to the one Chu is partly responsible for. Other jobs being posted include a Senior World / Level Designer, and Software Engineers.
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In the past, 2K have attempted to rival the likes of Overwatch when they launched Battleborn back in 2016. Sadly, the game didn't do anywhere near as well as its competitor and, in fact, had its servers shut down for good just a few days ago. Despite this, bringing Chu onboard suggests that 2K Games are not yet done with multiplayer titles, and his presence in the company could well make ears prick up for future news.
As well as being lead writer for Overwatch, Chu has a breadth of experience in the video game industry, having previously worked on such classics as Diablo, World of Warcraft, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2. He left Blizzard around development of the still-to-be-released Overwatch 2. The delays have left fans somewhat crushed as this installment was originally looking for a 2020 launch.
As of now, fans can only speculate about what this new project is going to be, but most will acknowledge that it's looking like it will attempt to make a name for itself in the character-driven multiplayer FPS genre. It's impossible to say whether or not 2K's new game will succeed after the disappointment of Battleborn. But with Chu's knowledge and experience of bringing game worlds and characters to life, there is hope that this next attempt will be able to sit up there with the best of them. It does, unfortunately, have its work cut out what with the immense popularity of Overwatch.
Overwatch is available now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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Source: IGN