7m Active Players

[J4MES OX4D 10,035]

Blizzard in typcial AAA fashion have announced that there are currently 7m active players on Overwatch with 119m hours on record, 326m character swaps and 11m payloads delivered. I usually take no interest in these Activision-style press releases which throw out largely pointless high statistics but with this one; it's encouraging to see a new IP thriving so well across the systems which is just short of the amount of users who played the beta. So many new titles these days are either DOA like Battleborn or lose a substantial portion of the playerbase within the first two weeks like Evolve, Titanfall, Battlefront, The Division etc. Not only does Overwatch have the potential to retain the community in the long run but it has the ability to grow in time.

 

Battlefront sold 14m copies and now has a global population of 40,000. Battleborn reached number one in the charts on all systems and its specialist platform on the PC saw just 13,000 sales with only 3,000 still participating and ITS NOT EVEN A MONTH OLD! Evolve which was described as a shooter that will 'last for years' now has 112 players left and it's highest point of 2016 was 1,300 when the game was on a free bloody weekend http://steamcharts.com/app/273350

 

It's still early days but Blizzard have a reputation for delivering successful new IP's that attract and retain a huge community for years. I think Overwatch will continue to thrive in a space where other big budget titles have flopped in horrendous circumstances. It will be more interesting to see where it goes when competitive play is reintroduced but so far; it's a great experience casually that has massive potential to get bigger. 

[cyberninja2601 1,106]

7m and I still can't get someone to protect me my I am playing support with PUGs

 

It is encouraging. It's also a lot of fun so I think it will succeed 

[The3rdWalker 1,271]

7m and I still can't get someone to protect me my I am playing support with PUGs

 

It is encouraging. It's also a lot of fun so I think it will succeed 

One day Pat, one day someone will protect us.

 

(also smite has 20 million players, but who's counting...right Josh?)