Blizzard Granted Patent For Overwatch’s POTG System – Update

Editorial Update 26th June 2018 21:22 pm.

Since the article was written we have been contacted to state that the patent has not been officially granted yet. The source material was incorrect and there are concerns raised about the unnecessarily proliferation of it. Instead, as a point of clarity Overwatch’s POTG Patent is currently deemed as ‘Status: Docketed New Case – Ready for Examination ”.

In other words, the application is officially in place but has not been granted.

In the spirit of clarity, we, therefore, wish to confirm the following;

• The patent is not currently granted.
• The information which led to this article was inaccurate.
• The current official state of the patent application is – ‘Status: Docketed New Case – Ready for Examination ”.
• The source material has been updated confirming this information.
• As such we retract any assertion that the patent has been granted.
• To the best of our knowledge, while a patent application has been submitted for Overwatch’s POTG system, it has not, as above, been granted.

We apologise for any inaccuracy or misrepresentation, however, if I may paraphrase my article, I would note the following statement within – “Personally, I don’t know what has surprised me more. The fact that such a patent could be applied for or that it was successfully awarded.” and therefore we at least did not appear to entirely swallow this at face value.

For the sole purpose of clarification of this editorial update, we have included the original article below.

Blizzard Successfully Apply For Patent On Overwatch’s Play Of The Game System

Overwatch is without doubt Blizzard’s biggest success since World of Warcraft. The fun, easy to access first-person-shooter has quickly garnered itself a very strong player base that even 2 years after release, keeps coming back for more.

Part of the fun of the game is, without doubt, the Play Of The Game system. It seems, however, that it is also unique enough to have officially been granted a patent in the US.

POTG Gets Granted A Patent

In a report via PCGamesN, following a submission to the US Patent Board in 2016, the POTG system from Overwatch is now officially patented. Now, you might be wondering exactly how you can patent such a system. Well, Blizzard rather sensibly looked to the concept and application rather than the actual ‘award’ in itself.

The terms of the patent include that: “A game server records events that occur within a match of a video game played using a plurality of game clients. After the match has concluded, the game server scores the events according to a plurality of criteria corresponding a plurality of play of the game categories.” “The game server then selects a play of the game category and determines the top aggregated score for the category.”

Can Other Developers Have Their Own POTG System?

I am no patent expert, but the overwhelming opinion seems to suggest no. Blizzard has effectively cornered the market for such a feature in their games. As such, it is doubtful that, outside of a Blizzard/Activision game, you will ever see this accolade appear.

Personally, I don’t know what has surprised me more. The fact that such a patent could be applied for or that it was successfully awarded. Kudos to Blizzard though.

What do you think? Are you surprised by this patent? – Let us know in the comments!