Blizzard Patented the 'Play of the Game' Feature

Alright, so this is just a fun little thing that popped in my news feed, so… why not?

If you play Overwatch (and the statistical odds are that you do), then you’ve probably got a few thoughts on their “Play of the Game” feature: a nice little clip at the end of each match that celebrates an amazing play by an individual player – either getting a lot of kills in a row, or… getting even more kills in a row? Sometimes it feels more like a “here’s someone aiming their ult really well” video than a true ‘play of the game’ feature, but hey, it’s still not bad.

But here’s a fun fact: Blizzard is super proud of this feature. So much so that despite the constant attempts to fix it over the past few years, they’ve apparently patented it all the way back in 2016, ensuring that no one could have a similar feature without getting their permission first, or a lawsuit afterwards.

Of course, Overwatch isn’t the only game with a highlight reel: a whole bunch of FPS’s will show you the final shot of a game. So they take great pains to illustrate just how this system is different from all those.

"There may have been a situation earlier in the game where one player managed to survive and emerged victorious even while being severely outnumbered. Capturing only the last kill would not make it possible to display such cases which would be considered far more impressive than a single kill that ended the game."

Now, the Patent hasn’t been approved yet – it’s not uncommon for games industry folks to ask for a patent and not receive it, so it may never happen – but still, it’s interesting that they tried to do it in the first place. Maybe they thought it’d be a bigger deal than it actually was?

Who can say?