Overwatch 2 launch leads to record-breaking sales figures for Blizzard

Blizzard has revealed in its latest financial earnings report that Overwatch 2’s launch back in October 2022 has been a massive success, with the game since delivering the highest quarterly figures in the history of the franchise.

Overwatch 2 has been available since October 8th, 2023, and in that time the game has gone through several periods of ups and downs. From the release of brand-new heroes for each role and a new game mode to divisive events and controversial metas, Overwatch 2 has been through a lot since its original launch.

However, despite the rough patches, it seems that Overwatch 2 has been doing quite well, so much so that it’s delivered the highest quarterly figures ever. In a recent financial report from Activision Blizzard, the company revealed the success of Overwatch 2 after its transition to the free-to-play format.

“The October launch of Overwatch 2 with a free-to-play model delivered the highest quarterly figures for player numbers and hours played in Overwatch history,” Blizzard explained, clearly indicating that the move to free-to-play has resulted in a net positive for overall engagement for the franchise.

They went on to further speak about the figures for in-game player purchases announcing that, “player investment is also off to a strong start, with fourth quarter in-game net bookings at the highest level to date for Overwatch.” This statistic coincides with Overwatch 2’s content delivery model also moving away from loot boxes and into a battle pass with limited-time store items. With these high figures, it once again indicates the success that Blizzard has had whilst reworking Overwatch 2 from its prequel.

With the success Overwatch 2 has seen already, Blizzard has also teased some new things that could potentially hit the franchise in the future.

“The team is working on an ambitious slate of regular seasonal updates, including PVE content, to engage and expand the community, as well as other ways for new and existing players to experience the Overwatch universe longer-term.”

Things seem to be going fantastic for the reworked release of Blizzard’s flagship hero shooter. However, the future may not be looking so bright for Overwatch as a whole, as the hero shooter has struggled to bring in viewership on Twitch in recent months.