A tale of transmedia storytelling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Blizzard\u2019s narrative spans multiple platforms.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/overwatch\/news\/overwatch-transmedia-storytelling-14412\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Overwatch and The Matrix: A tale of transmedia storytelling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Blizzard\u2019s narrative spans multiple platforms.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/overwatch\/news\/overwatch-transmedia-storytelling-14412\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dot Esports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DOTesports\/\" \/>\n<meta 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She lives in Massachusetts with her cat, Puppy, and dog, Major. She's a Zenyatta main who'd rather be playing D.Va.","url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/author\/nicole-carpenter"}]}},"raw_content":"It comes in bits and pieces\u2014a rogue short film at the game\u2019s launch, a digital comic released before a new event. Overwatch\u2019s storytelling is not linear. Weaving across multiple platforms, the game\u2019s timeline bounces between past and present. Blizzard is innovating with its narrative structure, iterating on a storytelling tradition born in the internet era. There is a uniqueness in the way Overwatch\u2019s story is told. Spread across a series of digital shorts, comics, in-game interactions, and an alternate reality game, Overwatch\u2019s history unfolds in pieces, with players flipping cushions and rifling through drawers as if they\u2019re looking for a lost set of keys. In the age of convergence and driven by the internet and connectivity, players are rewarded for spreading their attention across multiple platforms. Overwatch, the game, can stand on its own. Its characters often bear no weight of lore. Heroes who would be considered enemies in the Overwatch world are free to team together and fight would-be allies. Voice lines hint at canon relationships, but are not explicitly considered so\u2014instead, hero personality is \u201csubliminally\u201d imparted into in-game interactions. Hero personality is \"subliminally\" imparted into in-game interactions \u201cCould we put enough interest in [the Overwatch story] or subliminally make you interested in this character so that you\u2019ll say, \u2018Oh, there\u2019s a comic, I\u2019ll read that,\u2019\u201d Chu said during an appearance at the Tribeca Games Festival in late April. \u201cWe were hoping that we could coax people into being interested in the universe.\u201d Media scholar Henry Jenkins calls this approach transmedia storytelling\u2014splaying a story across platforms. An approach to storytelling in this way asks more of a consumer, or player, but the aim is creating a more immersive world. \u201cTo fully experience any fictional world, consumers must assume the role of hunters and gatherers, chasing down bits of story across media channels, comparing notes with each other via online discussion groups, and collaborating to ensure that everyone who invests time and effort will come away with a richer entertainment experience,\u201d media scholar Henry Jenkins writes in Convergence Culture. Jenkins points to The Wachowskis\u2019 The Matrix as the pinnacle of transmedia storytelling. Matrix \u201clore\u201d began spilling out before the film was released: Those interested scoured the web searching, \u201cWhat is the Matrix?\u201d The three-film series interplayed with each other and a videogame, and it was a lot to keep up with. In fact, it was nearly impossible for one viewer to keep up with it alone: Collaboration is essential in unwinding The Matrix franchises\u2019 tangled threads. There\u2019s simply too many references and secrets for one viewer to \u201cmaster the franchise,\u201d Jenkins said. Image via Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard fully embraced player collaboration when it launched Overwatch\u2019s Sombra alternate reality game. Both a narrative mechanic and a marketing ploy, the Sombra ARG began with a single phrase: \"\u00bfQui\u00e9n es 'Sombra?\u201d A cloaked Mexican hacker, Sombra infiltrated Overwatch in tiny ways, both inside and outside the game. Flashing between frames of another Overwatch hero\u2019s introduction video are two strings of hexadecimal code. When translated, a message was displayed: \u201cShe who has the information, has the power\u2026\u201d Code continued to be hidden in videos and in Overwatch until Sombra was officially revealed at BlizzCon in November 2016. There, Blizzard released a digital short to explore a mission in which Sombra seeks out the Volskaya Industries CEO Katya Volskaya: A person with serious social and political influence in Overwatch\u2019s Russia. The short film, Infiltration, sees Sombra working for and against bad-guy group Talon\u2014and its payoff, still, has yet to be seen. But because Blizzard, like The Matrix, commands a sense of respect, we trust that the storyline will be continued\u2014or even that it already has, but we\u2019ve yet to find it. There are no limits to transmedia storytelling, thanks to its emphasis on multiplicity\u2014a world built through using a mixed media approach has room for stories to stop and to start again. Opening up this space allows, even, for fan canon to influence and mold \u201cofficial\u201d canon, blurring the line between the two. Overwatch\u2019s community has latched onto the game\u2019s characters, building out stories and creating their own narratives. Fan-art explores relationships that are\u2014and aren\u2019t\u2014canon, but no other fan theory has more backing than Terry Crews as Doomfist. Initially just a mention in Overwatch\u2019s first digital short, Doomfist forced himself, with the help of Overwatch fans, into the forefront. In December 2016, a YouTube user uploaded a video that paired Brooklyn Nine-nine actor Crews\u2019 voice with an Overwatch character. The community was enraptured. The video reached Crews himself, who offered up his voice for the role. He visited the Blizzard campus and created a video of himself reading voice lines, while Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan remained coy. In the fan community, Crews as Doomfist is already lore. \u201cThere are forms of commercially produced transmedia which really celebrate the multiplicity which emerges from seeing the same characters and stories told in radically different ways,\u201d Jenkins said in a 2011 blog post on transmedia storytelling. \u201cThis focus on multiplicity leaves open a space for us to see fan-produced media as part of a larger transmedia process, even if we then want to try to sort through how different elements get marked as official canon or fan alternatives.\u201d Blizzard is one of the few arbiters of canon that embrace fan theory and alternative storytelling. In-game, Doomfist has made vague appearances since the Crews hype train started rolling. On Feb. 24, \u201cAtlas News\u201d reported on a disastrous scene at the Numbani International Airport. Walls crumbling and luggage tossed to the side, the airport was under attack, with all flights in and out of Numbani suspended. Part of Overwatch\u2019s world, Numbani is one of the few locations where robots and humans live as equals. The Omnic Crisis\u2014which is what spurred the creation of Overwatch\u2014fractured omnic and human relationships worldwide. Atlas News is not a real news organization, nor is Numbani a real location. Blizzard released this \u201cnews story\u201d to detail push forward the game\u2019s narrative, triggering Orisa\u2019s entrance into Overwatch. Those gripped by the Numbani lore were able to immerse themselves in speculation and theory, while those unaware could just follow along. Nowhere in Blizzard\u2019s releases is there explicit mention that Doomfist, a generational hero in the Overwatch world, attacked the airport, which is how those without prior knowledge of Doomfist could follow along with little help. Image via Blizzard Entertainment But for Doomfist fans, all the clues are there: First, Doomfist\u2019s gauntlet was stolen from the Numbani payload. Next, the airport is pictured with an omnic-shaped hole in the hall. And there\u2019s not many things in the Overwatch world that could punch a hole through an airport wall\u2014but Doomfist, a bulky hero with a super strong arm, just might be able to. \u201cEyewitnesses report sighting of\u2026.,\u201d read the ticker at the bottom of the news report. It was intentional to leave that dangling. Those in the know are able to fill that in on their own: Doomfist. It\u2019s not a requirement for Overwatch players to engage with the game\u2019s \u201cextra\u201d content, whether Blizzard-official or fan theory. But it\u2019s for this reason that Jenkins believes The Matrix \u201cfell out of favor\u201d with film critics. Used to reviewing just the film and not its surrounding culture, critics didn\u2019t \u201cget it.\u201d The Matrix required viewers to engage with content across genres, but unlike Overwatch, The Matrix\u2019s \u201cextras\u201d were not exactly free, and a lack of interest doesn\u2019t take away from the game\u2019s core gameplay. There are clear economic motives behind The Matrix\u2019s transmedia storytelling, Jenkins said. Likewise, Blizzard benefits financially from embedding Overwatch completely in a fan\u2019s life, rather than just as a video game. The difference, however, is that besides the main game, Blizzard\u2019s content flow comes without extra cost. Indeed, many enamoured by Overwatch\u2019s lore don\u2019t play the game at all\u2014and that\u2019s perfectly acceptable. Like The Matrix, Overwatch is a \u201cplayground,\u201d a space that encourages experimentation and play from both creators and fans alike. Blizzard continues to experiment with the ways it tells a story. Most recently, the developer added a new playable event that rewinds Overwatch. Going back seven years in the future, players are able to play as young versions of four of the game\u2019s heroes\u2014Torbj\u00f6rn, Reinhardt, Mercy, and Tracer. The Overwatch Uprising event is likely the most formative events for the Overwatch universe. Play of this kind is traditionally how video games tell stories. Overwatch is groundbreaking in that Blizzard initially ignored storytelling of this kind. Playing with the way stories are told in video games pushed Blizzard to be \u201cefficient\u201d in the way it inserts story, Chu said. Overwatch Uprising is a certain result of that. Gameplay in the Overwatch Uprising event is still at the forefront. Storytelling is executed as the mechanics of the game push along, sprinkled in through voice lines. But come May 1\u2014that\u2019s today\u2014Overwatch Uprising ends, once again returning to the books as, simply, history.","apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15664"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/909"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15664"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":427712,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15664\/revisions\/427712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15664"},{"taxonomy":"invoiceable_action","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/invoiceable_action?post=15664"},{"taxonomy":"internal-label","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-label?post=15664"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=15664"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=15664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

A tale of transmedia storytelling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Blizzard\u2019s narrative spans multiple platforms.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/overwatch\/news\/overwatch-transmedia-storytelling-14412\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Overwatch and The Matrix: A tale of transmedia storytelling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Blizzard\u2019s narrative spans multiple platforms.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/overwatch\/news\/overwatch-transmedia-storytelling-14412\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dot Esports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DOTesports\/\" \/>\n<meta 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She lives in Massachusetts with her cat, Puppy, and dog, Major. She's a Zenyatta main who'd rather be playing D.Va.","url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/author\/nicole-carpenter"}]}},"raw_content":"It comes in bits and pieces\u2014a rogue short film at the game\u2019s launch, a digital comic released before a new event. Overwatch\u2019s storytelling is not linear. Weaving across multiple platforms, the game\u2019s timeline bounces between past and present. Blizzard is innovating with its narrative structure, iterating on a storytelling tradition born in the internet era. There is a uniqueness in the way Overwatch\u2019s story is told. Spread across a series of digital shorts, comics, in-game interactions, and an alternate reality game, Overwatch\u2019s history unfolds in pieces, with players flipping cushions and rifling through drawers as if they\u2019re looking for a lost set of keys. In the age of convergence and driven by the internet and connectivity, players are rewarded for spreading their attention across multiple platforms. Overwatch, the game, can stand on its own. Its characters often bear no weight of lore. Heroes who would be considered enemies in the Overwatch world are free to team together and fight would-be allies. Voice lines hint at canon relationships, but are not explicitly considered so\u2014instead, hero personality is \u201csubliminally\u201d imparted into in-game interactions. Hero personality is \"subliminally\" imparted into in-game interactions \u201cCould we put enough interest in [the Overwatch story] or subliminally make you interested in this character so that you\u2019ll say, \u2018Oh, there\u2019s a comic, I\u2019ll read that,\u2019\u201d Chu said during an appearance at the Tribeca Games Festival in late April. \u201cWe were hoping that we could coax people into being interested in the universe.\u201d Media scholar Henry Jenkins calls this approach transmedia storytelling\u2014splaying a story across platforms. An approach to storytelling in this way asks more of a consumer, or player, but the aim is creating a more immersive world. \u201cTo fully experience any fictional world, consumers must assume the role of hunters and gatherers, chasing down bits of story across media channels, comparing notes with each other via online discussion groups, and collaborating to ensure that everyone who invests time and effort will come away with a richer entertainment experience,\u201d media scholar Henry Jenkins writes in Convergence Culture. Jenkins points to The Wachowskis\u2019 The Matrix as the pinnacle of transmedia storytelling. Matrix \u201clore\u201d began spilling out before the film was released: Those interested scoured the web searching, \u201cWhat is the Matrix?\u201d The three-film series interplayed with each other and a videogame, and it was a lot to keep up with. In fact, it was nearly impossible for one viewer to keep up with it alone: Collaboration is essential in unwinding The Matrix franchises\u2019 tangled threads. There\u2019s simply too many references and secrets for one viewer to \u201cmaster the franchise,\u201d Jenkins said. Image via Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard fully embraced player collaboration when it launched Overwatch\u2019s Sombra alternate reality game. Both a narrative mechanic and a marketing ploy, the Sombra ARG began with a single phrase: \"\u00bfQui\u00e9n es 'Sombra?\u201d A cloaked Mexican hacker, Sombra infiltrated Overwatch in tiny ways, both inside and outside the game. Flashing between frames of another Overwatch hero\u2019s introduction video are two strings of hexadecimal code. When translated, a message was displayed: \u201cShe who has the information, has the power\u2026\u201d Code continued to be hidden in videos and in Overwatch until Sombra was officially revealed at BlizzCon in November 2016. There, Blizzard released a digital short to explore a mission in which Sombra seeks out the Volskaya Industries CEO Katya Volskaya: A person with serious social and political influence in Overwatch\u2019s Russia. The short film, Infiltration, sees Sombra working for and against bad-guy group Talon\u2014and its payoff, still, has yet to be seen. But because Blizzard, like The Matrix, commands a sense of respect, we trust that the storyline will be continued\u2014or even that it already has, but we\u2019ve yet to find it. There are no limits to transmedia storytelling, thanks to its emphasis on multiplicity\u2014a world built through using a mixed media approach has room for stories to stop and to start again. Opening up this space allows, even, for fan canon to influence and mold \u201cofficial\u201d canon, blurring the line between the two. Overwatch\u2019s community has latched onto the game\u2019s characters, building out stories and creating their own narratives. Fan-art explores relationships that are\u2014and aren\u2019t\u2014canon, but no other fan theory has more backing than Terry Crews as Doomfist. Initially just a mention in Overwatch\u2019s first digital short, Doomfist forced himself, with the help of Overwatch fans, into the forefront. In December 2016, a YouTube user uploaded a video that paired Brooklyn Nine-nine actor Crews\u2019 voice with an Overwatch character. The community was enraptured. The video reached Crews himself, who offered up his voice for the role. He visited the Blizzard campus and created a video of himself reading voice lines, while Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan remained coy. In the fan community, Crews as Doomfist is already lore. \u201cThere are forms of commercially produced transmedia which really celebrate the multiplicity which emerges from seeing the same characters and stories told in radically different ways,\u201d Jenkins said in a 2011 blog post on transmedia storytelling. \u201cThis focus on multiplicity leaves open a space for us to see fan-produced media as part of a larger transmedia process, even if we then want to try to sort through how different elements get marked as official canon or fan alternatives.\u201d Blizzard is one of the few arbiters of canon that embrace fan theory and alternative storytelling. In-game, Doomfist has made vague appearances since the Crews hype train started rolling. On Feb. 24, \u201cAtlas News\u201d reported on a disastrous scene at the Numbani International Airport. Walls crumbling and luggage tossed to the side, the airport was under attack, with all flights in and out of Numbani suspended. Part of Overwatch\u2019s world, Numbani is one of the few locations where robots and humans live as equals. The Omnic Crisis\u2014which is what spurred the creation of Overwatch\u2014fractured omnic and human relationships worldwide. Atlas News is not a real news organization, nor is Numbani a real location. Blizzard released this \u201cnews story\u201d to detail push forward the game\u2019s narrative, triggering Orisa\u2019s entrance into Overwatch. Those gripped by the Numbani lore were able to immerse themselves in speculation and theory, while those unaware could just follow along. Nowhere in Blizzard\u2019s releases is there explicit mention that Doomfist, a generational hero in the Overwatch world, attacked the airport, which is how those without prior knowledge of Doomfist could follow along with little help. Image via Blizzard Entertainment But for Doomfist fans, all the clues are there: First, Doomfist\u2019s gauntlet was stolen from the Numbani payload. Next, the airport is pictured with an omnic-shaped hole in the hall. And there\u2019s not many things in the Overwatch world that could punch a hole through an airport wall\u2014but Doomfist, a bulky hero with a super strong arm, just might be able to. \u201cEyewitnesses report sighting of\u2026.,\u201d read the ticker at the bottom of the news report. It was intentional to leave that dangling. Those in the know are able to fill that in on their own: Doomfist. It\u2019s not a requirement for Overwatch players to engage with the game\u2019s \u201cextra\u201d content, whether Blizzard-official or fan theory. But it\u2019s for this reason that Jenkins believes The Matrix \u201cfell out of favor\u201d with film critics. Used to reviewing just the film and not its surrounding culture, critics didn\u2019t \u201cget it.\u201d The Matrix required viewers to engage with content across genres, but unlike Overwatch, The Matrix\u2019s \u201cextras\u201d were not exactly free, and a lack of interest doesn\u2019t take away from the game\u2019s core gameplay. There are clear economic motives behind The Matrix\u2019s transmedia storytelling, Jenkins said. Likewise, Blizzard benefits financially from embedding Overwatch completely in a fan\u2019s life, rather than just as a video game. The difference, however, is that besides the main game, Blizzard\u2019s content flow comes without extra cost. Indeed, many enamoured by Overwatch\u2019s lore don\u2019t play the game at all\u2014and that\u2019s perfectly acceptable. Like The Matrix, Overwatch is a \u201cplayground,\u201d a space that encourages experimentation and play from both creators and fans alike. Blizzard continues to experiment with the ways it tells a story. Most recently, the developer added a new playable event that rewinds Overwatch. Going back seven years in the future, players are able to play as young versions of four of the game\u2019s heroes\u2014Torbj\u00f6rn, Reinhardt, Mercy, and Tracer. The Overwatch Uprising event is likely the most formative events for the Overwatch universe. Play of this kind is traditionally how video games tell stories. Overwatch is groundbreaking in that Blizzard initially ignored storytelling of this kind. Playing with the way stories are told in video games pushed Blizzard to be \u201cefficient\u201d in the way it inserts story, Chu said. Overwatch Uprising is a certain result of that. Gameplay in the Overwatch Uprising event is still at the forefront. Storytelling is executed as the mechanics of the game push along, sprinkled in through voice lines. But come May 1\u2014that\u2019s today\u2014Overwatch Uprising ends, once again returning to the books as, simply, history.","apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15664"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/909"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15664"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":427712,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15664\/revisions\/427712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15664"},{"taxonomy":"invoiceable_action","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/invoiceable_action?post=15664"},{"taxonomy":"internal-label","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-label?post=15664"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=15664"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=15664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Rokurou

Image via Blizzard Entertainment<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Blizzard fully embraced player collaboration when it launched Overwatch\u2019s <\/em>Sombra alternate reality game. Both a narrative mechanic and a marketing ploy, the Sombra ARG began with a single phrase: “\u00bfQui\u00e9n es ‘Sombra?\u201d A cloaked Mexican hacker, Sombra infiltrated Overwatch<\/em> in tiny ways, both inside and outside the game. Flashing between frames of another Overwatch <\/em>hero\u2019s introduction video are two strings of hexadecimal code. When translated, a message was displayed: \u201cShe who has the information, has the power\u2026\u201d Code continued to be hidden in videos and in Overwatch<\/em> until Sombra was officially revealed at BlizzCon in November 2016. There, Blizzard released a digital short to explore a mission in which Sombra seeks out the Volskaya Industries CEO Katya Volskaya: A person with serious social and political influence in Overwatch\u2019s <\/em>Russia. The short film, Infiltration<\/em>, sees Sombra working for and against bad-guy group Talon\u2014and its payoff, still, has yet to be seen. But because Blizzard, like The Matrix<\/em>, commands a sense of respect, we trust that the storyline will be continued\u2014or even that it already has, but we\u2019ve yet to find it. There are no limits to transmedia storytelling, thanks to its emphasis on multiplicity\u2014a world built through using a mixed media approach has room for stories to stop and to start again. Opening up this space allows, even, for fan canon to influence and mold \u201cofficial\u201d canon, blurring the line between the two. Overwatch\u2019s <\/em>community has latched onto the game\u2019s characters, building out stories and creating their own narratives. Fan-art explores relationships that are\u2014and aren\u2019t\u2014canon, but no other fan theory has more backing than Terry Crews as Doomfist. Initially just a mention in Overwatch\u2019s <\/em>first digital short, Doomfist forced himself, with the help of Overwatch <\/em>fans, into the forefront. In December 2016, a YouTube user uploaded a video that paired Brooklyn Nine-nine <\/em>actor Crews\u2019 voice with an Overwatch <\/em>character. <\/p>