So I’ve been regularly checking SteamDB player count for OW2, tbf I’m pleasantly surprised.
https://steamdb.info/app/2357570/charts/
Sure, it’s tanked since launch (which happens with every game) but the last 7-8 weeks have been super-stable. Minimal change in player-count, if at all there’s been an increase since the latter half of season 6. The absolute lowest count we have gotten was around 16,028 average players on Monday October 2. Maximum this week was 35k last Saturday.
Despite Overwhelmingly Negative reviews, acclaimed multiplayer games like SF6, DRG and BattleBit would absolutely dream of these numbers. It ain’t Apex or Fortnite player-count, but it certainly seems OW2 is at a healthy state on Steam alone.
And a reminder that it can only go up from here with Kotick’s departure in 2024. 
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Frustration isn’t so much that the game is “dead.” OW2 is such a unique game that it will never truly die. But at launch the game generated massive hype with millions of twitch viewers so it was clear to all of us how much potential this game had. It easily should be rivaling or out pacing apex/Valorant.
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Stability is key, and yes this game is quite stable and has been for years (to various degrees).
Everyone wants to see (or not see) a 1mil player average (because for some reason it’s still 2007, and only a few games are in a polished playable state and the industry isn’t hyper saturated with games) to prove their baseless assumptions right.
Fun fact too, if you take away the Steam Chart games that aren’t represented on the Xbox Most Played Games list, and stack the ones that are side by side, with the exception of a few outliers the games’ placements are nearly identical. With that kinda data, it’s difficult to take anyone’s word that the game is “dying” or “dead” or “losing players”.
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I really hope they hand Bobby “The pink slip” at the door, and have security escort him off the premises, with the Police waiting for him, and a few news channel reporters.
It’d be even better if he makes it eventful, throws a fit and gets arrested. It would be Worth payper view access. or better. Blizzconn.
With all of the horrible things he has done, it makes me wonder who he pays off on Irvine california’s city payroll though. so bet nothing gonna happen.
Overwatch used to be a cultural cornerstone in the gaming community. It was ubiquitous. For about a year and a half, anywhere I went that was just people playing Overwatch. Now I can’t find anyone that plays Overwatch in person.
I’ve never seen such a botching of a franchise. We should be having movies and animes and regularly posted comics by now. It should be a giant connected universe with toy rights and tons of heroes, but they dropped the ball on it.
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I partly blame Activision and their soulless way of managing blizzard. Hopefully Microsoft will allow more creative freedom. The dream is for a fully invested PvE mode because that’s blizzards bread and butter. The one thing games like apex/Valorant lack is PvE and there is an untapped market for it. I just hope Microsoft is willing to reinvest in it.
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Lots of people wouldn’t like this answer, but I think the quickest way to make Overwatch relevant again would be to release an Overwatch classic. Basically, soft reboot the series.
as much as i agree with you i dont think that would happen with any “video game” take a look at fortnite, ninja was booed in new york for doing the fortnite dance. i think overall video games are just niche and cringe with real mainstream media. maybe nintendo games tho like mario are more mainstream than anything else but thats ancient and archaic in the video game world (mario i mean). while fortnite seems to be the cringe thing although very popular “within” the gaming community
That’s the thing though Overwatch had more in common with Pixar than it does Mario. There was a lot there that had cross medium appeal.
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You didn’t really compare player count of OW2 to Deep Rock Galactic, Street Fighter 6, and Battlebit, did you?
Nah. I’m hallucinating.
This is true. There are reaction videos on YT of boomers loving the animated shorts lol. The Overwatch universe definitely has that old school Pixar appeal that many would love to see in a greater narrative form.
Yeah we’ve been through this before so we probably don’t agree 
. I like 5v5. Seasons 1-3 of OW2 were amazing imo but they’ve made disastrous balance decisions with each season since.
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I tried adding Valerant or Apex into my gaming mix, but honestly they both seemed boring to me now that ive played OW for years. One of them also looked suprisingly unpolished and clunky -think it was Valerant.
IMO Overwatch is still the best FPS ever created -the 1st time i played it I felt like it was the game I always wanted, like it was made for me. 7 or 8 years later and I still have a blast playing it. Until someone creates something that actually can compete with the niche they cut out for themselves, OW will be just fine.
It’s wild to me that every studio right now is chasing interconnected universes like Marvel and DC when Overwatch is there right for the picking. There are several different clear movies you could make from different points in the timeline related to different characters. Could even have your big Avengers moment once everything comes together.
Id honestly watch a full movie about any of these heroes
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it is 
percent Kotick and Activision upper-management that killed OW’s reputation. The Overwatch team is super passionate even now, you can tell but they’ve been pushed around by higher-ups for so long that it gutted the potential of the franchise. The tweet by a dev saying Kotick “scrapped 8 months of work” really shows who truly killed PvE.
As I said in my OP, it can only go up from here. Hell, its possible Blizzard could return to their “glory days” and make one of gaming’s biggest comebacks from a toxic laughing stock to once-again a staple of gaming everyone in the industry aspires to be.
Notice how monetisation overhaul is coming right after Kotick’s departure? 
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The majority of players are still using Bnet. Every time I press P, Steam users are minority.
Good numbers though.
Hardly any fps game will do what OW did back in 2016 and win GOTY. Till this day, OW2 is the most beautiful and polished fps game on the market. Nothing beats it and plays like it. The problem is Blizzard.
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