Overwatch for Nintendo Switch Was Developed in a Year with Iron Galaxy

Though the announcement was spoiled early thanks to apremature listing of an officially licensed carrying case,it was surprising to learn that Blizzard Entertainment, Iron Galaxy, and Nintendo werebringingOverwatchto Nintendo Switch. While this port only runs at 30fps, it does have motion controls and allows players to takeOverwatchand play with friends on the go. In a recent interview withVooks, Principal Game Producer Wes Yanagi discussed Blizzard’s relationship with Iron Galaxy Studios and revealed that the Nintendo Switch port of Overwatch has been in the works for a year.

Iron Galaxy has collaborated with Activision Blizzard several times over the past couple of years. They were responsible for theCrash Bandicoot N. Sane TrilogyandSpyro Reignited TrilogyPC ports as well asDiablo III: Eternal Collectionfor Nintendo Switch. That nine-month development onDiablo III, in particular, seems to have established a good rapport between Blizzard and Iron Galaxy, so Yanagi only had good things to say about them as a partner. “Working with Iron Galaxy has been awesome.  Their team is very experienced working on the Nintendo Switch, and they taught us a lot about developing on the platform. It was also nice to have a fresh perspective on the codebase, which led to collaborative discussions on ways to better optimize the game.”

He went on to reveal that the aforementioned process and getting the Switch port ingrained with Blizzard’s infrastructure ultimately meant that Iron Galaxy Studios and various parts of Blizzard spent about a year on the project. This would mean work onOverwatchfor Nintendo Switch would have started just before the November 2018 release ofDiablo III: Eternal Collection.

“Work on the Switch version ofOverwatchstarted a little over a year ago. There is a bit of complexity trying to catch up to a constantly evolving game. But gettingOverwatchrunning 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,” Yanagi stated.

While it remains to be seen how solid the port ofOverwatchwill be at launch, it is clear Blizzard and Iron Galaxy Studios have put a lot of effort into bringing the game to a new platform. Those interested in the Nintendo Switch portcan pre-orderOverwatch Legendary Editionon Amazon.