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Overwatch 2’s Beta Lost 99% of Its Viewers in Just the First Week on Twitch
After a record-breaking debut, Blizzard’s hero shooter sequel didn’t have a good week on the popular streaming platform
Gamers have been patiently waiting to see more Overwatch 2 gameplay ever since the sequel to the beloved multiplayer hero shooter was announced back at BlizzCon 2019.
But over the past three years since OW2’s confusing reveal, the triple-A developer has struggled to maintain mixed reactions from fans due to a lack of major updates on the sequel, the loss of the game’s director Jeff Kaplan, other high-profile departures, multiple lawsuits, and an odd new focus on mobile game development.
Despite all the controversy, Day 1 of Overwatch 2’s first closed PC beta put up huge numbers and proved that there’s still a high level of interest in the franchise – a win Blizzard desperately needed while trying to rebuild the studio’s reputation after Microsoft’s $68.7 billion buyout.
With a peak of 1.46 million viewers, the beta’s first day set a new record for the most concurrent viewers ever watching Overwatch on Twitch with 3.5x more viewers than the franchise’s previous record of 400k viewers back in 2018.
The beta’s impressive debut also helped Overwatch become the No. 6 most watched game ever on Twitch, placing the franchise between Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s 1.6m viewers and Dota 2’s 1.44m viewers.
Unfortunately for Blizzard, after the beta’s huge first day, interest in Overwatch streams drastically declined to peak of just 78k concurrent viewers on Day 2 – a 94% drop showing that both viewers and streamers weren’t impressed with what they saw after waiting all these years.
Now, one week after its Twitch debut, Overwatch 2’s numbers have declined even further, down 99% — an unprecedented number for such a high-profile and well-established multiplayer IP.
This puts Blizzard in an interesting situation… clearly, there’s still a high demand for the sequel that will certainly sell well whenever it releases.
But while Day 1’s early viewer counts might have suggested strong sales, Overwatch 2 already has an issue with its viewer base retention – a problem that Blizzard was never able to solve with the original game back in 2017 when they tried to push Overwatch as the next big esports game.