Overwatch has canceled the Netflix animated series amid drama over executive poaching

Overwatch fans may never see their favorite heroes animated on the small screen, as Blizzard’s once-in-development Netflix series has been quietly shelved. The reason? A lawsuit between Activision Blizzard and Netflix over the poaching of former Activision CFO Spencer Neumann. Yes, it turns out that Netflix poached the executive midway through his contract, and the fallout has derailed several Blizzard projects, including the animated adaptation of Overwatch.

Jason Schreier, Bloomberg news reporter and author of Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment, recently dropped the bombshell during a Reddit AMA. When asked why Blizzard hasn’t ventured into television or film, Schreier revealed that there are plans for Netflix adaptations of Overwatch, StarCraft and Diablo. But Blizzard sued Netflix for poaching Spencer Neumann and that was the end of that dream.

The lawsuit alleged that Netflix violated Neumann’s “no-shop” clause, which prevented him from accepting other job offers during his contract with Activision Blizzard. After a brief legal battle, Neumann left Activision to join Netflix as CFO, although not without leaving a trail of canceled shows behind him.

For Overwatch players, this is another chapter in the franchise’s never-ending saga of “what might have been.” The game’s universe has always been ready for deeper storytelling, but the best we’ve achieved are these excellent, but far too short, animated shorts. Additionally, the PvE campaign was canceled, which would have allowed players to delve deeper into the story of the multiplayer shooter. Fans were understandably upset about the cancellation, with one player complaining on Twitter: “It’s like the universe doesn’t want the story of Overwatch to be told.”

Even though we won’t be getting the Overwatch series any time soon, we can at least enjoy a Hero Origin trailer every now and then, the most recent of which is for Juno. It’s not a Netflix series, but it’ll have to do for now.