Overwatch 2 Season 15 has been a breath of fresh air for the game, significantly lifting the spirits of its community. It's been almost nine years since the original Overwatch debuted in 2016, and over two-and-a-half years since Overwatch 2 was released. In August 2023, Overwatch 2 earned the dubious distinction of being the worst user-reviewed game on Steam, largely due to backlash over its monetization model. Blizzard faced heavy criticism for converting the premium original into a free-to-play sequel, making the original game unplayable as of 2022.
Overwatch 2 faced additional challenges, including the cancellation of its much-anticipated PvE Hero mode, which many players believed was the key feature justifying the sequel. Despite maintaining a ‘mostly negative’ overall user review rating on Steam, recent reviews have shifted to ‘mixed,’ with 43% of the 5,325 reviews in the past 30 days being positive. This might not seem like a major achievement, but for a game that has struggled with negativity since its Steam launch, it represents a notable turnaround.
The positive shift is largely attributed to Season 15, which introduced substantial changes to Overwatch 2. The game's roadmap continues to promise new content, but the core gameplay has undergone significant transformations, including the introduction of hero perks and the revival of loot boxes.
Overwatch 2 Season 15 Screenshots
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Recent positive reviews reflect this sentiment: “They just released Overwatch 2,” one user noted. “The recent update is what the game should always have been before corporate greed got in the way.” Another review praised the game's direction: “For once, I must come to Overwatch's defense and say they really have stepped up their game. Going back to what worked in Overwatch 1 while introducing new and fun mechanics to the game. A certain game made them LOCK IN and I couldn't be happier. Now we just gotta wait for next season with an actual cooler battlepass.” This refers to Marvel Rivals, a competitive multiplayer hero shooter from NetEase that has garnered 40 million downloads since its December launch.
In a recent GamesRadar interview, Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller discussed the competitive landscape shaped by Marvel Rivals. “We're obviously in a new competitive landscape that I think, for Overwatch, we've never really been in before, to this extent where there's another game that's so similar to the one that we've created,” Keller stated. He described the situation as “exciting” and appreciated how Marvel Rivals took Overwatch's concepts in a “different direction.”
Keller acknowledged that Marvel Rivals' success has spurred a change in Blizzard's approach to Overwatch 2: “this is no longer about playing it safe.” While it's premature to say Overwatch is "back," the fluctuating nature of Steam reviews suggests that reaching beyond ‘mixed’ ratings will be challenging. Nonetheless, Season 15 has boosted player numbers on Steam, with peak concurrent players nearly doubling to 60,000. It's important to remember that Overwatch 2 is also available on Battle.net, PlayStation, and Xbox, where player numbers are not publicly disclosed.
For comparison, Marvel Rivals, which recently updated mid-season, achieved a peak of 305,816 concurrent players on Steam in the last 24 hours.
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