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Josh Moody’s Overwatch App Ready to Hit Market

3 min read

Gamers can expect to see the free Overwatch combat gaming app in the iTunes store within a couple of weeks, Overwatch CEO Josh Moody told his 1 Million Cups audience Wednesday in Little Rock.

Plus, Moody said a partnership with leading airsoft gun manufacturer CyberGun will make Overwatch available at Walmart, Academy Sports & Outdoor and Cabela’s perhaps by this fall.

Overwatch’s soon-to-be-patented personal mount systems enable users to place smartphones with the app on their arms or guns, and CyberGun is marketing them alongside its products.

Moody presented Wednesday at the weekly 1 Million Cups, a national entrepreneurship networking program from the Kauffman Foundation brought to Little Rock by the Arkansas Venture Center and the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce. It affords entrepreneurs an opportunity to pitch their ventures before an audience of peers and potential investors.

Also presented Wednesday was 4DSales, a tablet-based mobile sales app from Tulsa whose team pitched in Little Rock as part of the 1 Million Cups Passport Program.

Overwatch is an app created by Josh Moody, a 2014 Little Rock Catholic High graduate. He led the Overwatch team to a win in the 2013 ARK Challenge accelerator in Fayetteville while juggling school work and full-time startup work during his senior year.

Moody temporarily is foregoing a college education to further develop the startup that came out of the ARK, officially called Innovis Labs but marketing the Overwatch app and brand separately.

Before an engaged audience of about 40 at 1 Million Cups, he described the Overwatch app as bridging the gap between the paintball/airsoft/laser tag and combat video game industries.

The app, currently developed for iPhones and Android devices, enables users to take features found in video games such as radar jamming and the ability to listen in on enemy communications and apply them to real-life paintball, laser tag and airsoft games.

A client firm of Innovate Arkansas, Overwatch won a funding round of $150,000 last fall for their ARK Challenge win. Officially based at RevUnit offices in Bentonville, it has grown to include six employees whose upcoming agenda includes development of a Web-based interface for the Overwatch app and, through Innovis Labs, the exploration of other applications of its software including safety training, police/SWAT and even military applications.  

For now, the focus is on gamers. Moody said combat video games represent a $70 billion industry and boast about 700 million players. With a cost of entry of less than $30 — the app is free, the armband mount will be retailed for $9 and the rail mount for $25 — Moody believes Overwatch fills a niche in the gaming industry.

Moody noted the potential competition: Paintball Commander and BattleTac. Each product focuses on one thing, GPS tracking. Overwatch, he said, provides all features available through a video game such as Call of Duty and translates those features to real-life paintball, airsoft or laser tag action.

“There hasn’t been any innovation in airsoft or paintball in over a decade,” Moody said. “Overwatch does it all to create a fully immersive experience.” 

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