Overwatch 2 has the ignominious honour of changing into the worst user-reviewed recreation on Steam ever, though its latest launch on the platform has seen tens of 1000’s of gamers.
In keeping with Steam250, which tracks the 100 worst Steam video games of all-time in keeping with person critiques, Overwatch 2 has a rating of simply 0.96 based mostly on an approval score (share of optimistic Steam person evaluation votes) of 10% from 92,028 votes.
That’s sufficient for Overwatch 2 to prime Steam250’s record, beating the earlier primary, card battle recreation Conflict of the Three Kingdoms from Chinese language developer Youka.
So, why is Overwatch 2, a recreation that launched first on PC and console late 2022, struggling so badly by way of person critiques on Steam simply days after it launched on Valve’s platform?
Many of the adverse critiques concentrate on one factor: monetisation. Blizzard was heavily-criticised when Overwatch 2 launched final yr because it compelled its premium predecessor to replace right into a free-to-play sequel, rendering the unique Overwatch unplayable. Since then, Overwatch 2 has endured a variety of controversies together with the cancellation of its long-awaited PvE Hero mode — the one function, gamers stated, that justified the sequel’s existence.
One evaluation, from Steam person Ornge, sums up the sentiment: “Overwatch 2 has no respect for you, it is an try to pry open your pockets whereas masquerading as the sport it was.”
In keeping with Daniel Ahmad, director of analysis and insights at Niko Companions, Overwatch 2 can be struggling heavy criticism from Chinese language customers. In a tweet, Ahmad identified almost two-thirds of Overwatch 2 Steam person critiques are written in simplified Chinese language, with 97% being adverse.
Whereas Chinese language Overwatch followers share the identical criticisms as these from the remainder of the world, they’re additionally upset on the finish of Blizzard’s settlement with NetEase for the distribution of Blizzard video games in China. This led to a widespread shutdown of Blizzard video games in January, which in flip precipitated gamers in China to lose entry to their accounts and the power to play on a nationwide server. “The launch on Steam is the primary time that players can vent on an open and worldwide platform, with many taking the chance to take action,” Ahmad defined.
Whereas gamers in China can use a VPN to entry Overwatch 2 as soon as once more now it’s on the worldwide model of Steam, gamers report gradual logins and poor connections. In keeping with Ahmad, Overwatch followers in China are so upset they’ve left optimistic critiques for Conflict of the Three Kingdoms in a bid to maintain Overwatch 2 forward of it within the race to the underside.
“In the long run, it is clear that Overwatch was and nonetheless is a well-liked IP in China,” Ahmad stated. “However the string of occasions ranging from the shut down firstly of the yr has led to pent up frustration being let loose abruptly.”
All this negativity comes whilst tens of 1000’s are taking part in Overwatch 2 on Steam. Final week’s launch, which got here alongside the essential Invasion replace, was seen as a surefire option to increase Overwatch 2’s playerbase from its console and Battle.internet base. Certainly, Blizzard has stated it now considers Overwatch 2 to have moved on from its early entry section.
Overwatch 2 broke into the highest 5 best-sellers on Steam by income, and in keeping with SteamDB, Overwatch 2 hit a peak concurrent participant rely of 75,608 over the weekend. On the time of publication, Overwatch 2 was the seventeenth most-played recreation on Steam with 36,979 concurrent gamers, forward of the likes of Civilization 6, Terraria, and Rainbow Six Siege.
Whereas Blizzard could have hoped to keep away from Overwatch 2’s “overwhelmingly adverse” person evaluation score on Steam, its metrics for fulfillment will embrace issues like “engagement” and “participant funding”. Wholesome spending within the free-to-play recreation will, for Activision Blizzard, show the last word barometer of success.
Blizzard just lately advised reporters it’s calm on declining participant engagement with Overwatch 2, placing it right down to the pure ebb and circulation of being a free-to-play recreation. However, clearly, there’s so much driving on the Invasion replace, though Blizzard has downplayed its significance. All eyes shall be on Activision Blizzard’s subsequent monetary report, the place it’s anticipated to make some touch upon the success or in any other case of Overwatch 2.
When you’re contemplating leaping in, here is all the things it’s worthwhile to learn about Overwatch 2 Invasion.
Wesley is the UK Information Editor for IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You possibly can attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
