Did the skin even start yet? I’d expect some uptick when that kicks off…
Because OW was never really popular on twitch after the honeymoon period is over. OW was always a game that is a lot better when you play it than if you watch it. There is nothing really from watching it. Same goes for other games. To use twitch as a metric for a game that is not even out yet is also not a good idea.
Oct. 04 and then we can see where we stand.
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He said something along does lines. Forgot the name of the topic.
Exactly. When i told my friends they just said its basically the same game.
Ow2 should have gotten 20 new heroes and max 3 old ones then people would believe its a new game. After all the bad experiences with blizzard people do not believe them so easily anymore. They have to deliever and all the deliever is just recycling old stuff and pulling off dirty marketing campaigns.
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Who wants to watch something that you can’t even access to
It said something to the effect of they expected people on the forums to complain and factored that into their decision but it really didn’t dissuade them because the forums generally don’t respond well to change and represent such a tiny portion of the user base that it would be a mistake to take them too seriously, deeming it an “acceptable risk”.
They did add that the forums were useful for some things like judging how a “certain type” of player might react to things. I don’t think they meant any disrespect really, but it sure has rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. And I guess I can understand how they’re taking it the way that they are.
To be fair we are a tiny portion of the player base but people felt that wording was dismissive, which I think is just people feeling defensive. But in the interest of fairness to the forum, I think Blizz’s rep intentionally misses the mark that people bristled not at the fact that this promotion was something new, but at the idea of being asked by Blizzard to buy a skin for no other reason than to essentially pay for their marketing.
Here, however, are the relevant posts, so you can make of them what you will as opposed to just getting the info second hand.
So there you go. I personally had asked Andy this to which he never responded:
Which as things go was a concern that seems to have been borne out.
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I would have watched the beta if I had the key because that way its more entertaining and I get to see some tips and plays !
but no beta key for the free people 
Thanks you great read,
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No problem.
To a large extent this is true. It should come as no surprise really, I myself never imagined viewership would rise. OTOH, when the game actually goes live on Oct 4th there will be a surge in players and viewers.
How exactly were you planning to help get new content? By simply playing the game? This mentality of anger of a cash shop is frankly just immature.
“F2P” only mean that you get access to the core game for free, all else, paywalled. You know this. Blizz is a for-profit company, and needs revenue to justify making all this content you guys want at the pace you want it.
Because gamers think OW2 is a joke
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Andy B said the forums are too small a percentage to matter, yes.
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Another failed marketing scheme by blizzard
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I’m hate watching at this point, a core part of me is so torn over this entire experience. On one hand, I understand they are a business and I don’t matter as a player, on the other hand I feel so jaded spending the last 8 years being obsessed with a game franchise that doesn’t seem to care about me.
I have adapted through every single change, I have justified it all, listening and changing playstyles and game modes along the way. There was a good portion of time I ONLY played custom games because the other modes felt unplayable for me.
I miss the days where I could play in a stack and have fun in QP/Comp. You could argue that I should just find another game, but the problem is there ISNT another game that remotely feels the same as this one and trust me, I’ve looked!
Basically, I’m stuck on: This is all I got so, might as well make the best of it.
So yeah, hate watching, ha.
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Multiple reasons.
This is the first one.
The second is drops were happening in the first artificially inflating the view count.
The next is the gatekeeping of the BETA behind a paywall. I know I personally don’t care about the BETA when as a multi-thousand hour player, I’m not in it simply because I don’t want to fork over more than what I paid for OW1 just to get in the BETA. I’m sure many others have been left with the sentiment too.
This also has a knock-on effect. OW is carried by the playerbase whether Blizzard like it or not. The vast majority of the playerbase does not watch OW on twitch assuming they aren’t lying about the “MiLlIoNs Of PlAyErS”. Infact, only the hardcore fans watch it on twitch with this game in particular which would be the ones talking about it in the forums, reddit, twitter and other social media sites and even we are barely watching it.
The stunts they have been pulling over the past couple of weeks have taken this already quite small number and fractured it even more. But they don’t realize is those of us not normally tuning in but deciding to, massively boost the viewership which encourages the larger streamers to play the game which brings their communities and massively boosts the numbers.
This hasn’t happened because Blizzard in their infinite wisdom, decided gatekeeping a BETA behind a paywall and removing drops so we can donate $18 to our “favourite streamers” to get a skin would somehow be a better way of promoting their game than oh idk, letting their players actually play it and watch their “favourite steamers” for free drops. Despite the fact the marketing for this BETA has been terrible outside the OW ecosystem (ask anyone who isn’t actively following OW when the next OW BETA is and they won’t have a clue).
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Yeaaaah. Sadly going by the reaction of vids like Dunky’s this seems to be the case. That first reveal needed to make more of a splash and less of a thud.
And it’s Blizzard’s fault. What they showed off just didn’t impress people. And a lot of us, myself included told them we were past the point of trickling out content, that people would not be wowed to just get one hero. What can you do?
But you know there’s still interest. The animated short did okay. Like 1.7million views. That’s not bad. But also that Dunkey video got 4.8 million views. Bit of an oof.
As for the cinematic, I just don’t know how they translate people’s interest there into engagement with the game. I wonder how the watchpoint pack was received on the broader internet? did anybody see it as greedy or did the gaming world just not even register it?
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Last time they watched to get access to the beta.
This time they get nothing.
Basically last beta view numbers were inflated and this time the only people watching are actually interested
You can take the temperature of the interest in this divisive sequel from the slow response by the forum, owl’s viewership in decline, and how the beta release have given zero momentum to hype.
OW 2, it’s poorly messaged as it is marketed.
Blizzard is trying to make this for new comers but it’s only pleasing the content starved.
Most people are done with the game, or Overwatch’s competition is releasing new content that’s available to everyone.
That’s the real problem. The devs still sticking to their old habits.
Yeah, they have to limit the amount for a closed beta.
But everything from the first beta (like a friggin scoreboard) could have been thrown into OW 1 to get people interested in playing your game.
Myself, I can just wait til Oct when it’s free to see if I’m interested.
Won’t bother me if I’m not. My bonus check just dropped today so I’m off to the store to get DNF Duel!
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Looks fun. Can’t buy it atm due to a mix of factors (needed to buy an air conditioner, house tax due, brother’s video card broke). Every character is nutty and would be OP in a normal game, looks fun lol.