Overwatch is about to begin a bold new era. On February 10, not one, not two, but five heroes will be released into players' hands, with a full year of hype-inducing content on the way. And oh yeah, I didn't say Overwatch 2, did I? I said Overwatch. Because Blizzard is losing count. We go back.
The artist formerly known as Overwatch 2 has had some real hills to climb. The planned PvE mode, which would have offered a story-rich iteration to the live-service hero shooter, was removed and replaced with quick little missions that ended anyway. Overwatch fans are fierce about the characters they love and are often committed to consuming every ounce of lore they can get their hands on, so the cancellation of a more narrative approach went very, very, poorly.
Still, things are looking up. They are really coming up roses right now. So much hype is building in anticipation of the new season, in fact, that even where the game has never drawn in its largest number of players, it is climbing the charts to a remarkable degree.
You too, Steam?
When it launched over two years ago, Overwatch 2 reached a Steam CCU peak of 75,608. Now, that doesn't necessarily sound great for a big-budget live service, and all things being equal, it wouldn't be. But the game has always had comparatively robust numbers on Battle.net, to say nothing of its popular performance on home consoles. Simply put, Steam has never been the best meter for Overwatch.
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Yet success can still be determined when those launch numbers, modest as they may seem out of context, are nearly achieved again. I must emphasize, the new season isn't out yet. These are people who come back in preparation for it; none of the “season one” content ready to give Overwatch 2 into a new era is even here yet. So when you see 67,844 people logged into the hero shooter the weekend before Blizzard's big moment, you know something's up.
In fact, while everything is relative in life, it's worth noting that Overwatch even has a leg up on Battlefield 6 right now. As of this writing, Dice's well-received FPS lags just slightly behind. I don't expect this to last long, but it's a testament to Overwatch's newfound success, especially considering the fact that Battlefield, unlike Overwatch, do tend to put their best foot forward in Steam-based metrics.
These are interesting times for Overwatch. The rebranding, the redesign, it's all here, and we'll soon see what kind of staying power it brings to a now-classic IP.
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