After a rocky launch, Overwatch 2 played host to over 35 million players during its first month.
The figure was revealed today in an Activision earnings report for Q3 2022. Under a section labeled Selected Business Highlights, Blizzard Entertainment’s parent company said that “over 35 million people played the game in its first month, including many who were new to Overwatch.” The same section reported that “average daily player numbers” for Overwatch 2 have more than doubled those of the first game.
This is only the second time that the company has publicly revealed player counts. A tweet from the official Overwatch account on Oct. 14 announced that the game had reached 25 million players in the 10 days after launch. Neither Activision nor Blizzard have shared much other data regarding the game’s player base so far, including much-anticipated numbers like hero pick rates. The company did reveal in a blog post that all of the game’s heroes have a win rate between 45 and 55 percent.
These exceptionally high player count totals continue to astonish, particularly in the face of Overwatch 2’s choppy launch. During the first few days after the game’s Oct. 4 release, those who wanted to play the game had to contend with two DDoS attacks, significant server instability, and a host of bugs. The game has since evened out and servers are stable, but there is still backlash against the free-to-play game’s battle pass and monetization system. It’s unclear if Blizzard will make any changes to Overwatch 2’s systems in the face of community outcry.
