The Overwatch 2 development team says it’s unconcerned by declining player engagement, insisting it’s seeing the “normal ebb and flow” associated with free-to-play games.
Blizzard launches Invasion, the hero shooter’s sixth season, hot on the heels of stark comments from Activision Blizzard, which confirmed Overwatch 2 engagement and player investment had declined during the three months to June 30.
At the time, Activision Blizzard pointed to today’s release of Invasion, which adds a new hero, new story missions, and new maps, as a potential flashpoint of much-needed interest. But in an interview with reporters ahead of launch, Blizzard played down the importance of Invasion as a ‘make or break’ moment for Overwatch 2.
“There’s this interesting thing about how we stacked a bunch of content on Overwatch 2 Invasion,” executive producer Jared Neuss said.
“We did that because we were experimenting with different seasonal structures, and one of the things we really wanted to try was, what if we just put all this big stuff, these awesome additions, and different expressions of the game together?
“That really isn’t like a, ‘oh there’s so much riding on this’ kind of a thing for us. For us it’s really about, what does a good season look like? We’ve tried a bunch of stuff, right? We tried a very thematic approach with Season 5. We’ve tried different things in Season 2 and 3.
“So it’s less about, ‘is there all this stuff riding on Overwatch 2: Invasion?’ and more about, ‘what do we think is the right rhythm and cadence, and how do we create these big moments for players?’ “
Addressing the declining player engagement, Neuss put it down to Overwatch 2’s free-to-play status, which encourages players to dip in and out as they see fit.
“The declining stuff is basically, we are a free-to-play game and it is very easy to both come to the game and check it out, and to leave to check out other stuff,” Neuss said. “We see a normal ebb and flow of players. There’s nothing concerning to me or the team about any of that.”
Overwatch 2 Invasion introduces the game’s next batch of story missions, which are locked behind a $15 paywall. Blizzard has said it is likely Overwatch 2 will not get new story missions for at least the next two seasons after the release of Invasion.
Overwatch 2 launched October 2022 as a free download and got off to a strong start, with over 35 million people playing in the first month. IGN’s Overwatch 2 review returned an 8/10: “Overwatch 2 breathes new life into what was once the sharpest multiplayer shooter around, before it had its edges severely dulled by Blizzard’s attention shifting away.”
But Overwatch 2 has endured a number of controversies since, none more potent than the cancellation of its long-awaited PvE Hero mode – the one feature, players said, that justified the sequel’s existence. Overwatch 2 launches on Steam today in a move that will no doubt boost player numbers further.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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