Overwatch dev on Switch porting challenges, Nintendo’s support of motion controls, porting timeline

Vooks recently had the opportunity to speak with Overwatch principal game producer Wes Yanagi about the upcoming Switch version. Yanagi weighed in on the challenges involved, how conversations started with Nintendo about including motion controls, and the timeline of porting the game over.

You can find responses to these topics below. For the full interview, head on over to Vooks.

On the challenges of porting the game to Switch…

Our goal was to deliver an experience where when you picked up the Nintendo Switch, you thought “yep, I’m playing Overwatch… but on this tiny device.” A lot of the work went into looking for areas we could optimise performance and finding the right visual settings that looked and felt like Overwatch. While it’s easy to focus on the graphics when thinking about performance, there were a lot of other systems like physics and audio that contribute to the overall frame rate. We spent a lot of effort optimising those systems to make the game feel just right.

On how it came up with Nintendo to include motion controls…

It came about early on with our initial discussions with Nintendo. They expressed how it was a popular feature on the Nintendo Switch and encouraged us to investigate it. A few of us were a little skeptical at first, but after doing a bunch of research and experimenting with various implementations, it really grew on us. I think most people who spend time learning the controls really like it a lot.

On the timeline of porting Overwatch to Switch…

Work on the Switch version of Overwatch started a little over a year ago. There is a bit of complexity trying to catchup to a constantly evolving game. But getting Overwatch running is just the tip of the iceberg. Adding a new platform also means making sure it works within the entire Blizzard infrastructure. Many developers in all parts of the company, especially Battle.net, had a hand in bringing the Switch version to life.