Overwatch is back, recovering from its slump and then some. With today’s update, which sees the game officially drop the title of Overwatch 2, a new concurrent player record has been set, and it’s enough to overtake Marvel Rivals.
At the time of writing, 126,774 players are online on Steam alone. That is not taking into account anyone playing through another launcher, or on console. This is the most amount of players on at once since Overwatch launched on Steam in 2023, making the rebrand back to Overwatch even bigger than the launch of Overwatch 2.
Overwatch 2 Is Dead, Long Live Overwatch
The player count is going up by the thousands as I write this, so it’s very likely that we will see the record get pushed higher overnight. Meanwhile, Marvel Rivals has a still respectable 78,593 players online through Steam right now, but Overwatch is in a very clear lead.
Judging from the concurrent player stats, this is the first time Overwatch has ever pulled this off. Marvel Rivals hasn’t seen the dips that Overwatch has, consistently pulling in far more people at once. But now, if Overwatch can hold onto enough of its new and returning players, then it could be in the running once more.
This is all thanks to a major shakeup, which has seen Overwatch go back to season one. With this, five new heroes have been added today as well, breathing new life into the roster. Couple that with a big story event that lets players choose their side, and some quality of life updates, and it looks like Blizzard is finally addressing fan concerns.
However, with all of these new players, you might struggle to actually get into the game. I’m hearing that queues are back, so you’ll probably be left staring at the title screen for a bit before you can try out any of this new content for yourself. At least it’s a shiny new title screen.
We’ll have to wait and see where the concurrent player count evens out. Right now, it’s still going up when I refresh the page, so we’re not at its peak just yet. We’ve also got the weekend to look forward to, which could raise it even higher, if the momentum is still there.
- Released
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May 24, 2016
- ESRB
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T for Teen: Blood, Use of Tobacco, Violence (online interactions not rated)
- Engine
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Proprietary
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
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ps5, xbox , pc
- Cross Save
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yes
