Overwatch w/Devs: Doctrine, Grimsvötn, Reworks, and More | Official XBOX Podcast

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Games in this podcast range from E to M.

Lena (0:03)

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Official XBOX Podcast, the only podcast coming to you from Inside XBOX. I'm Lena, this is Jeff, and we're here at BlizzCon 2026

Jeff (0:14)

In case you didn't hear the noise behind you, we hear the noise, don't we?

Ben Bell (0:17)

Yeah.

Jeff (0:18)

All right, Ben Bell, Erin Keller, fresh off the stage here at BlizzCon. Thank you so much for joining us during your Super Bowl weekend.

Erin Keller (0:26)

Thank you so much for having us.

Ben Bell (0:27)

It's super exciting.

Jeff (0:29)

I would love to talk about this year in general, starting with the Overwatch spotlight at the beginning of the year.

From that point forward, it felt like everyone I was talking to, they'd be like, no, I've really gotten back into Overwatch this year. Then announcement after announcement, new characters, and then peaking here on stage with yet another announcement of both a map and a character. I'd love to hear, just tell us about the state of Overwatch here as you're wrapping up 2026

Erin Keller (0:54)

Yeah, we wanted to go big this year and we had this plan to do all of that early on in our spotlight event in February. We announced five new heroes, the return to story to Overwatch, and since then, every season, we've released a new hero, we've moved the story forward, and you're right, it culminated here at BlizzCon 2026 where we announced our ninth hero of the year. His name is Doctrine, and he has a big part to play in the wrap-up of the whole story that we've been telling that's going to end next season in Season 5

Lena (1:30)

Yeah, I'm very much looking forward to February, the spotlight, because I loved last spotlight, and so looking forward to what's coming to Overwatch. Is there anything that you could maybe share, maybe tease? I don't know.

Ben Bell (1:44)

So, Aaron talked a little bit about spotlight next year, and I think first I'd say, we want every season to feel big, but we want to blow people away at spotlight. And it's not going to be exactly the same formula as this year, but we're going to bring some new gameplay, new heroes, things that people want and have asked for, and some things that are really, I think, going to surprise people, and they're going to be excited by. You know, the thing about this team is we're just so focused on players, and the team is just so passionate about the game, so I think we're going to blow people away.

Erin Keller (2:24)

It's going to be really cool.

Ben Bell (2:26)

And this is BlizzCon, so we really wanted to make sure we showed up in a big way.

Jeff (2:31)

Ben, you mentioned the players. This is your first BlizzCon, right? What was it like announcing things in front of them, seeing them immediately jump on and play and enjoy these new characters in that?

Ben Bell (2:41)

It's really humbling and awesome. We do this to make people happy and to bring people together. And I said it on stage, but it's really true. It's totally inspirational to be here and see people out there. We have this event called Play the Devs, and just seeing the interactions between players and our team, it's amazing. So I can't wait to go down to the floor and see some more of it.

And I can't wait to be at BlizzCon again in the future.

Lena (3:13)

So for folks who may have just seen the reveal, nothing else, who is Doctrine?

Erin Keller (3:19)

Okay. So Doctrine is Overwatch's take or inspired by a vampire.

And you can kind of see it when you look at him. And I do think when Overwatch is at its best, when we're making our best heroes, you can look at them and just kind of understand what that fantasy is supposed to be. You can take a look at Reinhardt this medieval knight or Mercy, who is like an angel. And I think Doctrine kind of fits in with all of like some of those greatest hits that we've made over the years. And Doctrine is a support hero, which is maybe a little bit surprising, you know, cause it's a vampire and he's a villain at the same time, but he's got this past that kind of like really fits in with him being a support and him kind of like dealing with the life energy of people. So like that person in that role of like being able to decide like whether somebody lives or dies is something that is integral to who he is as a character.