Is Overwatch Blizzard's new small-team game?
"Small and nimble" development inspired by Hearthstone.
Card battling game Hearthstone has done more for Blizzard than overfill the coffers: it's inspired a new - but old - way of working.
Hearthstone was built by a small team quickly and Blizzard is fitting out a new game team to do the same.
"With Hearthstone, Blizzard has revived its tradition of creating small and nimble game teams and we are following in those footsteps," wrote Blizzard in a lead producer job ad.
"We can't tell you exactly what the game is yet, but trust us, it's awesome."
Separately - coincidentally? - Blizzard filed a trademark for something game-related called Overwatch, noticed PlayerAttack (via VG247).
Overwatch is a military term that refers to a small unit or vehicle taking an advance position where it can overlook the terrain ahead and provide covering fire for advancing friendly units. Whether or not this has any bearing on the style of game Blizzard is making is unknown.
As one reader pointed out on Twitter, Overwatch could be the name of a new spectator mode for Hearthstone.
Still, more games more often from Blizzard sounds like a very good thing, both for us and the many talented people working there.