Overwatch 2 attracts 25 million players in 10 days despite a difficult launch

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Overwatch 2 officially launched on October 4, shortly after Activision Blizzard shut down its predecessor's servers. Now the publisher claims that 25 million people have played the new game since launch, triple what the original game had in the same time frame.

Blizzard launched the new game on consoles and PC, with crossplay available at launch. The new title brings several changes from its predecessor, including the switch to free-to-play, the introduction of a battle pass, and the switch from 6v6 to 5v5 gameplay. It also has several new heroes not available in the original game.

Given that the original is no longer playable, it makes sense that a large portion of its players would transfer over to the new title. Overwatch 2 is also free to play, removing the barrier of entry present in the original game. It also launched on the Nintendo Switch, which Overwatch did not, adding even more new blood to the player pool.

Many of those 25 million players have experienced the many issues that Overwatch 2 has had since its launch. To date, the game has seen two major DDOS attacks, unstable servers, and character bugs (including one that allowed robot hero Bastion to bombard opponents with daylight). Players have also complained about the game's competitive ranking system, matchmaking, and hero balancing.

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Other players are not happy with the fact that some heroes are locked behind the battle pass and therefore inaccessible from the start - unless they pay to unlock them. Although the game is free to play, Overwatch 2's gameplay requires flexibility when it comes to choosing heroes, which means those who can't or won't pay to unlock heroes may find themselves at a significant disadvantage. /p>

Perhaps the biggest complaint is that Blizzard has enabled a form of two-factor authentication that requires users to connect their account to a cell phone number. However, only contract phones would work, rendering prepaid phones and VoIP plans unusable. Blizzard has since taken over this feature for (sort of) - although they still plan to use it for at least some players in the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Despite this, the game appears to be making numbers - though that doesn't mean all 25 million of those players have ever played the game. new heroes, maps and seasonal updates.

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