Overwatch 2's Steam debut is big, but those user reviews are rough
Blizzard's first Steam game has been well received - in that people are playing it, but maybe not quite enjoying it.
The day has arrived, folks. Hell has frozen over, etc. Blizzard has released a game on Steam (the first of many). Unfortunately, the studio picked Overwatch 2 to start off this new venture.
Overwatch 2 is out now on Steam, free-to-play just like it is on Blizzard's own Battle.net launcher. The launch has so far been good, in terms of player interest. The game peaked at 75,608 concurrent players (via SteamDB), which lands it outside Steam's top ten - but no so far down.
It's certainly no Baldur's Gate 3, but for a free-to-play multiplayer game, things could be a lot better. The real kicker here, though, isn't so much those player numbers, it's the user reviews. At the time of writing, Overwatch 2 is sitting at a shocking 'Mostly Negative' rating.
This is based on over 45,000 user reviews, only 11% of which are Positive - hence the overall rating. In fact, every single piece of content currently on sale for Overwatch 2 - the Hero Collection DLC, the Invasion Bundle, and the Invasion Ultimate Bundle all currently have a Very Negative, or Overwhelmingly Negative ratings.
It seems like a concentrated campaign to send Blizzard a message, and it's one that I think the developer can't afford to ignore - especially now that it's available on the largest PC storefront. It's also not a good look for one of the biggest PC developers to have its first Steam launch be so poorly received.
Battle.net, where Overwatch 2 was previously available exclusively, does not have user reviews. So perhaps this has been the player sentiment around the game for a while, it's only that there's now an avenue for them to vent.