Overwatch’s Lead Writer Is Working On New Project For 2K Games

Battleborn may not have been a success for 2K Games–the game’s servers were shut down for good just days ago–but the publisher hasn’t given up on action-focused multiplayer games. One of the writers of Overwatch is now working with 2K Games on a project that sounds like it could be an Overwatch rival.

Spotted by IGN and Twitter user MauroNL, the new 2K Games studio 31^st Union, which is co-helmed by ex-Dead Space and Call of Duty developer Michael Condrey, has Overwatch lead writer Michael Chu on board as the narrative lead. Chu has also worked on Grounded, Diablo, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, among other games, and will hopefully get to write more actual story for this game instead of the backstories and dialogue we mostly got in Overwatch.

The studio hasn’t officially announced its game, but we do know that it will be a “multiplayer character-action game” based on job openings. Does that mean it will be similar to Overwatch? Possibly, especially with the first-person shooter experience that Condrey brings to the table. However, “character-action” is also a term used to describe games like Bayonetta and Devil May Cry, so the game could take a completely different approach.

It would certainly be a strange decision for 2K Games to take on Overwatch with another game given the massive flop of Battleborn, which saw its price tank shortly after launch before going to a pseudo free-to-play model. It didn’t seem to slow down Gearbox Software, however, which saw big success with Borderlands 3 before being purchased by Embracer Group.