As it continues to refine the current system, Blizzard Entertainment has patented Overwatch’s famous Play of the Game function. According to Unikrn, Blizzard received the patent earlier in June, having applied for it in December 2016.
The patent document outlines how the system works with the game timestamping notable events in a match. Following this, the server “scores the events according to a plurality of criteria corresponding [to] a plurality of play of the game categories.” Whichever clip scores the highest in these criteria is then made available to all players once the match concludes.
Interestingly, along with the High Score category, the patent also included Lifesaver, Sharpshooter and Shutdown categories. The latter three are three additional classifications that can be given to clips where saving a teammate, landing a series of successful shots and killing an enemy mid-Ultimate can be seen. If that weren’t enough, the social media systems for sharing the clips are also included.
Blizzard has talked about revamping the current Play of the Game system for quite some time. Patenting the current system, thus ensuring other shooters (like, say, Paladins) can’t use similar systems is also odd, especially since the patent was applied for months after Overwatch launched. What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments.