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Overwatch’s Steam Player Count Hits Highest in Years Ahead of Season 1 Relaunch

The spike reflects anticipation for the relaunch with five new heroes, measured only on Steam.

Overview

  • SteamDB recorded peaks near 69,000–69,900 concurrent players over the weekend, the strongest on Steam since the ~75,608 launch-era high in August 2023.
  • Interest is tied to Blizzard dropping the “2” and launching Season 1: Reign of Talon on February 10, which adds five heroes including the viral Jetpack Cat.
  • Overwatch briefly surpassed Call of Duty and Battlefield 6 in concurrent players on Steam during the surge, according to the platform’s charts.
  • The figures reflect Steam activity only, with many Overwatch players on Battle.net and consoles, so total engagement is not captured by these numbers.
  • Despite the rebound, Steam user reviews remain largely negative at roughly 27% positive overall, and observers note it is unclear whether the upswing will persist after the update goes live.