Overwatch 2 has the ignominious honour of becoming the worst user-reviewed game on Steam ever, although its recent launch on the platform has seen tens of thousands of players.
According to Steam250, which tracks the 100 worst Steam games of all-time according to user reviews, Overwatch 2 has a score of just 0.96 based on an approval rating (percentage of positive Steam user review votes) of 10% from 92,028 votes.
That’s enough for Overwatch 2 to top Steam250’s list, beating the previous number one, card battle game War of the Three Kingdoms from Chinese developer Youka.
So, why is Overwatch 2, a game that launched first on PC and console late 2022, suffering so badly in terms of user reviews on Steam just days after it launched on Valve’s platform?
Most of the negative reviews focus on one thing: monetisation. Blizzard was heavily-criticised when Overwatch 2 launched last year as it forced its premium predecessor to update into a free-to-play sequel, rendering the original Overwatch unplayable. Since then, Overwatch 2 has endured a number of controversies including the cancellation of its long-awaited PvE Hero mode — the one feature, players said, that justified the sequel’s existence.
One review, from Steam user Ornge, sums up the sentiment: “Overwatch 2 has no respect for you, it’s an attempt to pry open your wallet while masquerading as the game it used to be.”
According to Daniel Ahmad, director of research and insights at Niko Partners, Overwatch 2 is also suffering heavy criticism from Chinese users. In a tweet, Ahmad pointed out nearly two-thirds of Overwatch 2 Steam user reviews are written in simplified Chinese, with 97% being negative.
While Chinese Overwatch fans share the same criticisms as those from the rest of the world, they are also upset at the end of Blizzard’s agreement with NetEase for the distribution of Blizzard games in China. This led to a widespread shutdown of Blizzard games in January, which in turn caused players in China to lose access to their accounts and the ability to play on a national server. “The launch on Steam is the first time that gamers can vent on an open and international platform, with many taking the opportunity to do so,” Ahmad explained.
While players in China can use a VPN to access Overwatch 2 once again now it’s on the international version of Steam, players report slow logins and poor connections. According to Ahmad, Overwatch fans in China are so upset they have left positive reviews for War of the Three Kingdoms in a bid to keep Overwatch 2 ahead of it in the race to the bottom.
“In the end, it’s clear that Overwatch was and still is a popular IP in China,” Ahmad said. “But the string of events starting from the shut down at the beginning of the year has led to pent up frustration being let out all at once.”
All this negativity comes even as tens of thousands are playing Overwatch 2 on Steam. Last week’s launch, which came alongside the crucial Invasion update, was seen as a surefire way to expand Overwatch 2’s playerbase from its console and Battle.net base. Indeed, Blizzard has said it now considers Overwatch 2 to have moved on from its early access phase.
Overwatch 2 broke into the top five best-sellers on Steam by revenue, and according to SteamDB, Overwatch 2 hit a peak concurrent player count of 75,608 over the weekend. At the time of publication, Overwatch 2 was the 17th most-played game on Steam with 36,979 concurrent players, ahead of the likes of Civilization 6, Terraria, and Rainbow Six Siege.
While Blizzard will have hoped to avoid Overwatch 2’s “overwhelmingly negative” user review rating on Steam, its metrics for success will include things like “engagement” and “player investment”. Healthy spending in the free-to-play game will, for Activision Blizzard, prove the ultimate barometer of success.
Blizzard recently told reporters it’s calm on declining player engagement with Overwatch 2, putting it down to the natural ebb and flow of being a free-to-play game. But, clearly, there’s a lot riding on the Invasion update, although Blizzard has downplayed its importance. All eyes will be on Activision Blizzard’s next financial report, where it is expected to make some comment on the success or otherwise of Overwatch 2.
If you’re considering jumping in, here’s everything you need to know about Overwatch 2 Invasion.
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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