Overwatch 2 Is Already Way Bigger Than The Original
Overwatch 2 has already tripled the average user numbers of the original game, in just 10 days.
This article is more than 2 years old
The controversial Activision Blizzard just announced that Overwatch 2 reached 25 million players in just ten days. What’s even more astonishing is that daily player peaks are reaching triple the numbers of the original, not-unavailable game. To put things in perspective, the new game did what the original game took eight months to do, and it did so despite the rocky launch, which was a combination of usual day-one server issues and really annoying DDoS attacks on the game’s servers.
Still, despite the game’s rocky launch, Overwatch 2 is one of Blizzard’s most important releases, and gamers have continued to show up in droves, driving up the player count even further. Blizzard president Mike Ybarra stated that the company’s thrilled to bring both old and new players into the Overwatch universe. According to GamesRadar, Ybarra also called the game’s initial success a beginning, with numerous possibilities to explore the world of Overwatch as the development team continues to build it up.
As for the rocky launch, numerous drops, and item disappearances, Blizzard also stated that they’d recompense the players by granting them free Cursed Captain Reaper Legendary skin and a Health Pack Weapon Charm. The company also announced the double-XP match weekends on the game’s website while also revealing that the game’s newest hero, Kiriko, has been a popular choice among gamers — her ultimate ability was used over two million times in the first week alone.
As for the increase in numbers, it’s obvious that Blizzard’s decision to make Overwatch 2 free-to-play had a massive role in attracting the players. Compared to the full-priced original game, the sequel turned out to be a more interesting game, partially due to the massive amount of content the game had received during beta testing, but also the fact that some of the gaming world’s most controversial features, such as predatory loot boxes, have been removed from the game.
Another major factor that propelled Overwatch 2 was the fact that the game launched on Nintendo Switch — something that the previous game hadn’t done in years of its lifespan. However, given the current state of things over at Nintendo and the number of controversies regarding the company’s latest releases, it actually isn’t surprising that the original Overwatch didn’t make the jump to the most popular handheld. But the inclusion of the sequel certainly is peculiar.
On the one hand, it’s quite reasonable, considering that the Switch was, and still is, the best-selling game console since the beginning of COVID-19 lockdowns. Still, numerous games, such as the upcoming Gotham Knights, which would make sense on Nintendo Switch, departed from the previous-gen consoles due to aging hardware and processing. Still, a launch on Nintendo Switch also played a massive role in the initial success of Overwatch 2.
In other more recent news related to Activision Blizzard, the company has revealed the release date of their upcoming World of Warcraft: Dragonflight and made Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer perks unlockable by playing through the in-game campaign. Additionally, the company is still under a suspicious and watchful eye over an insider trading scandal that occurred in the middle of Microsoft’s acquisition of the company.
