OW2 is maybe with the lower player count since ever. Their only sauvation is the success of 6vs6. Seeing S14 patch notes I think devs are really hoping that 6vs6 will be a success. But what if it fails?
Thats the only big move they have to compete with Rivals.
How can they compete once Rivals add Role Queue?
How can they compete once Rivals add Thanos or Daredevil?
How can they compete once an Avengers movie is released starring Chris Evans and Robert Jr?
Edit: S14 patch notes may in fact be a sign that devs already lost all their hopes.
They’re aware of new games coming out but I see no reason why would they see them with so much aggressivity as you do. Gamedesigners and creators don’t look at each other with predatory competition…
Devs don’t put their salvation in 6v6. S9 had the best numbers without 6v6.
If 6v6 fails, some people on the forums would be doomed as they exist only to blame 5v5 being the root of all evil.
If you care so much about the future or Marvel Rivals, go on their forums. What happens on a TPS Marvel game is irrevelant to improve OW2.
Thats the problem they will need to work harder for less profits.
OW2 playerbase is decreasing which will directly touch the profits.
Those who stay are playing both games, but pretty sure they will spend less money in OW2 because they will need to divide their budget for Rivals.
Last year it has been annouced that OW has the worst profits in all Blizzard games which made Microsoft split the way bonuses are distributed.
With Rivals release things will go worse.
Decreasing ?
Wasn’t the last event ; overwatch classic, was one of the most popular ever ?..
Y’all going mad about S14 numbers and putting on Rivals release.
But there might be tons of factors about S14 numbers : least popular role having the new hero, people are waiting for 6v6 test, mild patch, we’re in December with Xmas holiday coming up, which can be a weird month regarding people time to play games, especially competitively.
This comparison with Rivals needs to be reminded about few things :
Rivals is a new game with marketing campaign going on. Of course its very popular cause its new. OW2 on the other hand is already 2 years old.
Rivals is a Marvel game. There are a lot of players unfamiliar with team based shooters coming to Rivals just because they like the comics.
One can’t know how many people will come back to OW2 when 6v6 test will be rolling or in 6 months when Rivals gonna lose its novelty effect.
Some people prefer OW cause its not marvel, cause they prefer DPS, cause they prefer 5v5, cause they prefer a stable competitive state than random chaos.
And some content creators will come back to OW when Rivals won’t be famous enough.
A lot of marvel games quickly fade away. Like, Snap was a sold a huge hit and today, I barely see people talking about it. Games like Guardiands of Galaxy or Capcom vs Marvel are usually quickly forgotten too.
I might be wrong but I wouldn’t bet Rivals having better numbers than OW2 in 2025.
For a game like OW2, its impossible to work harder for less profits.
We already have less skins because of layoffs.
It all lies in producers hands if they want to invest or not into OW2. If they don’t want to lose money, OW2 devs won’t be able to work as hard as players are wishing for. And the game will join SC2 and Heroes of the Storm : servers running without any new content until it slowly disappears.
Just 6v6 will not help a jot. Simply adding one more player will not fix the issues. They would need to do a lot of ground work and changing the fundamentals to help the case.
– First of all, they will probably wait a bit. Rivals could be a one-time fluke or it makes mistakes.
– For 6v6, they’d need to rebalance tanks a lot. That will cause a cascade of balance changes. You can’t have, say, Zarya with her new bubbles in the 6v6 format. At least, not raw.
– They would need to rethink new heroes that were added with 5v5 in mind. Stuff like new Orisa without her shield is no longer an anchor tank. Mauga, Hazard, etc? It’s just not even close.
– 5v5 games modes would need a lot of testing in 6v6. Who knows how push and flash will behave if they do 6v6 with all the changes I mentioned above
– And in the end, there’s only a slight chance they get the return on that huge investment. And that’s because it will not be ground-breakingly novel. It’s basically “what OW1 was”
– So, what they need to do in addition is new game modes, new maps, new heroes - and omg, maybe even PvE. You know, stuff they promised to deliver in OW2?
But that’s all on the premise Rivals really hit where it hurts. And even then I imagine they will just try to milk the remaining player-base more and more till the time it all withers and devolves into an obscure game hardly anybody cares about.
If Rivals adds RQ, then it will be easier for OW to compete lol
The instant queue you get in MR are from it being OQ. Tank is nowhere near as popular as DPS or support, adding RQ will just butcher queue times the same way it did in OW.
Modern 6v6 is probably going to suck. All of the 5v5 modes with 2x tanks have been bad. Unless they seriously decrease tank damage, it won’t work. And even then maybe not.
It only matters if the devs learn why 5v5 or their balance choices fail. So far they haven’t learned much because the Orisa buff is a been there done that choice.
Marvel Rivals being competition is a good thing.
Blizzard got too complacent.
2025 means they will have to put in more effort not bare bones recycled content updates.
Daredevil, Doom, Ultron and many others are on the Horizon. I think it will be awhile for Thanos to let other bad guys have their time.
Devs have to learn what Rivals and other Live Service games already know.
They have to stay more engaged with their audience, do surveys, and give more in-game rewards for the time you spend playing their game.
I’ve already made $6 in Rivals currency in a week vs the $2 in premium coins of Ow 2.
Its not gonna fail! People will come back. The 6v6 trials are the closest thing to Classic you can get. The OG OW1 Diehards will return! Have faith in the process!
A “competitor” just launched, so player count lowering is expected. According to players, OW has been dead or dying for six years. It’s gone through highs and lows, but it seems pretty steady.
Rivals is absolutely nothing to write home about. It’s fun, sure, but it’s not nearly as good as OW.
All of the 5v5 modes are just bad lmao, it ain’t got anything to do with 6 players or 5.
I love Clash n’ Flash but I fully acknowledge both, as well as Push, are universally disliked.
Titanfall devs acted like this. XDefiant devs acted like this.
“Oh, we arent competing with Call of Duty. We are trying to be our own thing!”
A bunch of losers.
Call of Duty meanwhile pulled out all the stops to kill these games dead. After Titanfall 1 they released 3 bounce house shooters in a row to decimate that game.
And they made sure to release Infinite Warfare one week after Titanfall 2 suffocating it to death on launch.
XDefunct Call of Duty put some nice little movement tech in Black Ops 6 and forced them to fold the game up like a lawn chair a month after launch.
Any dev that says this space is not competitive. Good luck. That game is prolly gonna get taken down as a live service by devs who understand competition in business.
The OW devs prolly think with this participation trophy society mindset too and that’s why they just lost 40 percent of their playerbase to…(drum roll…)
They was interview few months that there is going to be lot of changes like Zarya won’t have 2 bubbles, Rein won’t have two firestrikes, Roadhog rework would be reverted, Mauga & LW ult won’t be as long. They have been thinking of removing all passives.
I think New Orisa, Mauga & Hazard will work for 6v6 pretty well. I guess we will know in 2 days.
New maps & heroes are still coming out like always though i wished it was four instead of 3. New modes will take lot of work than this changes. PvE is dead.
Because COD devs understood even though it would piss off the community a little making a 3rd bounce house shooter they made sure to bleed their competitor.
I don’t think 6v6 is much of a difference in the big picture. Tank synergies are nice, I guess. Except the part where the matchmaker will need to find a second tank.
