(Photo : Blizzard / Screenshot taken from Steam)
The average Steam player count for "Overwatch 2" has dropped by nearly 50% since NetEase Games released "Marvel Rivals."
Data from SteamDB showed that Blizzard's hero shooter has experienced a roughly 40% drop in average monthly players in the last two months. It was revealed that the average player counts for "Overwatch 2" in September, October, and November last year were 35,000, 34,000, and 32,000, respectively.
Overwatch 2 Loses Nearly Half of Average Player Count
But then, NetEase Games' "Marvel Rivals" released on Dec. 5, 2024, and the average player count for "Overwatch 2" within that month was found to be 25,248, which was a drop of roughly 21.7%.
It was also discovered that in the past 30 days, the average player count for Blizzard's hero shooter was 19,745, which was another 21.8% decrease. Usually, games see a natural drop in player count over a period of time as interest slowly wanes.
However, "Overwatch 2" has not experienced two drops of more than 20% in consecutive months before "Marvel Rivals" became available. It also experienced a rise in active players from July to September last year, according to the Video Games Chronicle.
Read Also: Blizzard Announces Limited Time Mode 'Overwatch Classic' To Take Players Back to 2016
While there is no direct evidence citing "Marvel Rivals" as the reason for the dip in player count for "Overwatch 2," it is undeniable that the latter has seen much better days. This is especially true since the time before its competitor came out.
Marvel Rivals' Success
The similarities found between the two games make them a near-perfect copy of each other, except for the characters that they feature. Both are free-to-play team shooters, and "Marvel Rivals" has 6v6 gameplay while "Overwatch 2" is 5v5.
What makes "Marvel Rivals" impressive is that not only did it have a high player count when it was released, but it was able to retain its players in the following weeks. The release of Season 1, in particular, only helped it solidify its position even more, The Gamer said.
Now, Blizzard seems to be planning some changes for "Overwatch 2" in order to shake up the game and attract players back. The company is planning a Spotlight showcase that is scheduled for Feb. 12, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. PT.
The studio will reportedly unveil "groundbreaking changes to the PvP experience that will be unlike anything you've seen before." It also looks to be gearing up to add new maps, heroes, and much more moving forward, according to Kotaku.
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