Overwatch 2 Attracts 25 Million Despite Issues, Balance Changes Not Coming Until Season 2

Overwatch 2 launched earlier this month, and needless to say it’s been a bit of a rocky road, with log-in issues, controversy over phone number requirements, and DDoS attacks raining on Blizzard’s parade. And all that’s not even getting into mixed fan reactions to changes to Overwatch’s core gameplay.

Despite all this, it seems the launch of Overwatch 2 multiplayer has been a solid success, as the game has attracted 25 million players since rolling out 10 days ago.

TWENTY FIVE. MILLION. PLAYERS. IN. TEN. DAYS.

Thank you to the 25 Million Players who have now jumped into #Overwatch2 with us pic.twitter.com/2ESBr5Shmk

— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) October 14, 2022

Of course, Overwatch 2 multiplayer is now free-to-play, so fairly decent launch numbers should have been expected. Still, Blizzard has a solid base to build off here. Speaking of which, the studio provided some details about their future plans for the game in a recent blog post. Obviously, balance is important given the introduction of three new Heroes and the tweaking of many more, but Blizzard doesn’t plan a major rebalancing pass until Season 2 launches.

“While some heroes are performing better than others, and there are differences across player skill levels, we have been happy to see that no hero’s overall power level is far out of line with our goals. Every hero on the roster has a win-rate between 45% and 55%, and we are not planning any immediate balance changes based on what we are seeing, with the exception of a targeted adjustment to Zarya in Total Mayhem which should go live with our next major patch on October 25.

Instead, our team is planning to make balance changes for Season Two that are in line with our design goal of ensuring the overall game feels balanced and fair while giving each season a more distinct identity. While we’ll continue looking at hero performance and listening to player feedback prior to finalizing any specific changes to balance for Season Two, we want to share more about what we are seeing so far.”

One of the balance changes coming is a nerf for Genji, something Overwatch 2 players have been asking for since early testing. Blizzard is also promising fixes for online rubberbanding and hit detection issues players have identified.

Activision Blizzard has faced a series of lawsuits and other legal action on the heels of a suit filed by California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) alleging widespread gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment at the Call of Duty publisher. You can get more details on that unfolding story here.

Overwatch 2 is available now on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and Switch. Season 2 is slated on launch December 6.

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