Overwatch 2 Season 15 is making waves, significantly boosting the sentiment around a game that was once labeled as the worst user-reviewed title on Steam. It's been nearly nine years since the original Overwatch debuted in 2016, and over two-and-a-half years since Overwatch 2 launched. The sequel hit rock bottom in August 2023, becoming the most negatively reviewed game on Steam due to backlash over its monetization model. Blizzard faced heavy criticism for converting the premium Overwatch into a free-to-play sequel, effectively making the original game unplayable since 2022.
Overwatch 2 faced additional challenges, including the cancellation of its highly anticipated PvE Hero mode, which many players believed was the primary reason for the sequel's existence. Despite retaining a 'mostly negative' overall user review rating on Steam, the tide is turning with recent reviews now classified as 'mixed,' with 43% of the 5,325 reviews from the last 30 days being positive.
This shift can be attributed to the launch of Season 15, which brought about substantial changes to the game. While future updates are expected to include new content, Season 15 has already transformed the core gameplay with the introduction of hero perks and the return of loot boxes.
Overwatch 2 Season 15 Screenshots
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Positive feedback has been pouring in, with one review stating, "The recent update is what the game should always have been before corporate greed got in the way." Another user praised the changes, saying, "For once, I must come to Overwatch's defense and say they really have stepped up their game. Going back to what worked in Overwatch 1 while introducing new and fun mechanics to the game. A certain game made them LOCK IN and I couldn't be happier. Now we just gotta wait for next season with an actual cooler battlepass."
This comment alludes to the impact of Marvel Rivals, a competitive multiplayer hero shooter from NetEase that has garnered 40 million downloads since its December launch. In an interview with GamesRadar, Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller acknowledged the new competitive landscape, saying, "We're obviously in a new competitive landscape that I think, for Overwatch, we've never really been in before, to this extent where there's another game that's so similar to the one that we've created."
Keller found the situation "exciting" and appreciated how Marvel Rivals took Overwatch's established ideas in a "different direction." He also admitted that the success of Marvel Rivals forced Blizzard to adopt a less cautious approach with Overwatch 2, stating, "this is no longer about playing it safe."
While it's premature to say Overwatch is "back," the mixed reviews suggest a challenging path ahead. Nonetheless, Season 15 has led to a significant increase in player numbers on Steam, with peak concurrent users nearly doubling to 60,000. It's important to note that Overwatch 2 is also available on Battle.net, PlayStation, and Xbox, though player numbers on these platforms are not publicly disclosed.
For comparison, Marvel Rivals, which recently released a mid-season update, saw a peak of 305,816 concurrent players on Steam in the last 24 hours.
