OW 2’s player count is still healthy, according to the executive producer

It’s fair to say that Overwatch 2 had a rocky start as a game. After the cancellation of the highly anticipated PVE content and the closure of the OWL, players could be forgiven for expecting the game to suffer a minor setback. However, according to a recent interview, the executive producer says that OW 2’s player base is healthy and even growing. It seems that the developers’ recent changes to strengthen the free-to-play shooter have paid off.

While promised content that long-time fans were excited for had to be cut, Blizzard has recently followed through on other commitments. They have started delivering reworks of older heroes. Their patching approach also seems to do a better job of keeping the game exciting. There are also further collaborations and even price changes. All of these steps to improve the overall user experience for Overwatch 2 might have worked. A new interview has given us a few more details that suggest OW 2 is in a much healthier state.

OW 2 number of players

In a new interview, Jared Neuss explained a lot more about OW 2’s player count. While the game at one point had a record for the most negative reviews, it appears that player numbers have held up. Speaking specifically about Steam, Overwatch 2’s executive producer said: “Not only are people getting on Steam for the first time, but people are coming back and making Steam their primary platform.” It appears that a decent number of players are still on Steam Steam remains, even after the game received so many bad reviews.

Speaking more generally about the total number of players between OW 1 and OW 2, Neuss said: “The game is going really well.” “The audience has grown significantly… We have a really healthy mix of people who have been playing Overwatch for a long time and brand new players .” They considered this a success towards their goal of getting to the free-to-play phase.

What does the number of players look like?

There are generally positive feelings in interviews, but what do we actually know about OW 2’s player base? In some terms it is difficult to quantify. Blizzard doesn’t reveal exact numbers. We can see player numbers on platforms like Steam, but that doesn’t tell the whole story as most older OW players are more used to using Blizzard’s own launcher.

According to publicly available Steam data, the game’s player numbers peaked in the month of its release on that platform. In August, 75,361 top players were reached. In September, it lost a significant number of players, hitting a low of 33,000. However, there were increased monthly highs in both October and November. It shows that OW 2’s Steam player base is growing, although some attention initially waned.

If the Steam numbers are any indication of the player base elsewhere, it’s a healthy sign for the game’s future. Although Blizzard initially struggled with some issues, the current innovations and changes to the game continue to attract new and returning players. When big changes like the highly anticipated monetization fixes arrive next year, even more people may return to OW 2’s gameplay narrative.