Overwatch Graphic Novel "First Strike" Canceled and Here's Why

Blizzard Entertainment has canceled the Overwatch graphic novel, First Strike, the developer announced in a blog post. Explaining the cancellation, Blizzard's Michael Chu said, "We've ultimately decided to take the story in a different direction."

"The original idea for the graphic novel dates back to the early days of the game's development and came from our desire to tell the story of the founding of Overwatch during the Omnic Crisis," he added. "In the years since First Strike's conception, we have done a lot of development on the universe and its stories. While the core of this story remains, we have changed and expanded upon how we see the events that took place during the first days of Overwatch."

Chu teased that Blizzard plans to eventually tell the story of the early adventures of Overwatch's main characters--but that'll have to wait for "another day."

"I'd like to thank everyone for the enthusiasm, passion, and support you've shown towards the Overwatch universe," Chu added. "We have a number of stories in development that will delve deeper into the world and its heroes, and we can't wait to share them with you in the coming months."

Announced in July, First Strike was scheduled to come out in November 2016. It was described as a "brand-new entry in the Overwatch canon" and "will contain 100 pages of sequential artwork telling the story of the original Overwatch strike team." It was going to be written by Micky Neilson and penciled by Ludo Lullabi.

In other news about Overwatch, the game is completely free to play on all consoles this weekend.