Summary
Blizzardwas reportedly planning to bring three of its IPs toNetflix, but cancelled the shows due to legal issues with the streamer. This is according to Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, who says that Blizzard was planning to create shows based onOverwatch,Warcraft, andDiablo.
Schreier implies that the deal fell apart afterActivision Blizzard sued Netflix, accusing the company of breaching Californian employment law by “poaching” one of its executives. This lawsuit was filed in December 2020, suggesting that the shows were abandoned years ago.
Blizzard Reportedly Scrapped Plans For Netflix Shows
As spotted byOverwatch Cavalry, Schreier mentioned this tidbit of information in a Reddit Q&A about his new book, Play Nice. This covers three decades of the goings-on at Blizzard, including the apparent plans to adapt three of its most popular series into Netflix shows.
In his reply about the Netflix show, Schreier links to a story about the Activision Blizzard lawsuit, suggesting that this was the reason for the shows being canned. With this in mind, we probably shouldn’t expect them to see the light of day.
Both a Diablo and Overwatch series being made for Netflix wasrumoured back in 2020. As reported bySlash Gearat the time, the Diablo show was said to be an anime, while little was known about the Overwatch adaptation. In any case, we never heard anything else about these projects, so if they did exist, it certainly seems like they’ve been abandoned now.
Of course, if this is true, it does show that Blizzard sees the value in anime and other animated shows based on these properties. With that in mind, we might see these adaptations pop up elsewhere - just don’t expect them to appear on Netflix anytime soon.
Overwatch 2
WHERE TO PLAY
The sequel to Blizzard’s popular team-based hero shooter, Overwatch 2 features a roster of over 35 fighters and over 20 maps. It features team sizes reduced to five, aiming to create faster and more action-oriented matches, while PvE elements add to the options available.
