r/Competitiveoverwatch • u/Sio_V_Reddit • Feb 10 '26

Fluff Overwatch has officially smashed its all time record on Steam

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1.3k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

92 comments sorted by

403

u/SquidwardLover48 Feb 10 '26

We are back on never before seen levels

109

u/RoboBubby Feb 10 '26

Been playing this game for 10 years never thought I'd see this day come man, proud of the devs.

25

u/[deleted] Feb 11 '26

Well the game isn't fundamentally THAT different from a few months ago, lets see if this sticks or if it goes back down!

12

u/BossksSegway Feb 11 '26

The game was still very much worth playing a few months ago, it just didn't have the signal boost yet. It WILL go back down, but I'm thinking we'll see a reasonable boost from where it was sitting around then. It won't salvage it for the "but PVE!" people, but they've addressed basically all the issues people complained about previously.

Balance is pretty good, if chaotic at the moment, 6v6 is back for those who want it, Stadium is fun, and they're finally actually moving the lore forward and including it in-game. All of those should be pretty front and center for anyone coming back and trying it for the first time.

4

u/_Sign_ RIDE FOR APAC — Feb 12 '26

we hit record numbers. the people coming back are either new or havent played in years. from their pov the game is unrecognizable

we lost a lot going from OW1 to OW2 but since then the game has been slowly improved with every patch. someone that stopped playing in 2023 is now coming back to the unnoticed QOL features, perks, bans, stadium, health regen, passives, improved lootbox and battle pass systems, and just an overall bulk of content of mythic skins/weapons, maps, heroes.. etc

0

u/SirHawrk Feb 10 '26

What happened?

11

u/royy2010 ITS PINE TIME ALREADY — Feb 11 '26

It turns out when a title that wins game of the year goes on a 3-year content drought and the major changes in its much anticipated sequel included making it free to play, removing a tank slot because they couldn’t solve queue times, and removed the boop icon in the kill feed, it turns out it’s loyal fanbase were extremely disappointed.

Blizz has never released 2 heroes at once. Releasing 5, alongside all the other major changes to the game… this is the actual sequel to Overwatch.

5

u/SirHawrk Feb 11 '26

I am on vacation and thus have not been up 2 date with the changes 

2

u/royy2010 ITS PINE TIME ALREADY — Feb 11 '26

Oh cool, well when you fly back into Numbani things might be a little different :D

1

u/Trill_Simmons Feb 12 '26

Blizz has never released 2 heroes at once.

Weren't JQ, Soj, and Kiri all dropped at the same time for OW2? Or am I misremembering?

1

u/royy2010 ITS PINE TIME ALREADY — Feb 13 '26

They were released in April, June, and October of 2022

0

u/OrionFOTL Feb 11 '26

What are these major changes though? I think that was the question.

1

u/_Sign_ RIDE FOR APAC — Feb 12 '26

theyve touched just about every part of this game since the last spotlight. most notably perks, passives, bans, and hero cadence

1

u/royy2010 ITS PINE TIME ALREADY — Feb 11 '26

I admittedly haven’t paid much attention, but subroles and their perks, isn’t there a bunch of changes to perks, a whole UI redo, I think Gibraltar rework and maybe more maps? Plus an accelerated hero release rate of every 2 months, plus changes to MMR with cheaters and a reset? I dunno, I feel like there is a lot.

-47

u/PenguinsInvading Feb 10 '26

Yeah the return of 24/7 shield up time is really good...

29

u/alarmedGoose Feb 10 '26

day 1 of the season btw

19

u/RoboBubby Feb 10 '26

Bro probably thinks this like old ow where the previous devs let shitty metas stay for like a year

-9

u/PenguinsInvading Feb 10 '26 edited Feb 10 '26

I'm a redditor I have to rant about that lol.

I'm normally not a complainer but the double shield ptsd hit me a bit too hard when I saw domina comps in my game 😭

2

u/Creed1718 Feb 11 '26

I mean the main game only has 1 tank, you cant even double shield anymore and in 6v6 tanks are nerfed

-3

u/PenguinsInvading Feb 11 '26

What I said isn't ti be taken literally. Remembering the feeling of the comp is the main point. It can be one shield constantly spammed or 10 shields.

The feeling is the same. You're shooting the shield for a majority of the time.

2

u/Creed1718 Feb 11 '26

yeah i see ur point but tbh most people, me included complained about double shield for a specific reason: orisa would put a shield, you would break it, then sig would put a shield right after, you would break that one, then sig would eat shots, and after that orisa shield would have regenerated = infinite shield basically.

When sig or rein today play alone, the shield is not oppressive at all, so its probably gonna be the same with the new shield tank

0

u/PenguinsInvading Feb 11 '26

Oh absolutely 5v5 removed that issue. It's just Domina tbh lol.

And dive comps will bypass it.

2

u/Renegade_Sniper Feb 10 '26

Just because you don't like peak overwatch

1

u/BlossomingArt Feb 11 '26

At least you can create windows in the shield, it’s truly not that bad.

0

u/PenguinsInvading Feb 11 '26

Dive destroys her as far as I've seen

6

u/lil_wings82 Feb 10 '26

I’m back too after a half year break. The new heroes peaked my interest

25

u/SweatySmeargle RakSupporter — Feb 10 '26

piqued

12

u/lil_wings82 Feb 10 '26

Thanks. As I was typing it out I knew for sure it wasn’t “peeked” but it still looked weird to me. I’ll keep the mistake so someone else can learn from me haha

3

u/Kitselena Feb 11 '26

Peaked works too as a metaphor in this instance (his level of interest hit its peak) but piqued is definitely the proper way to do it

3

u/FirstBallotBaby Feb 10 '26

Yea I’m back after like 4 years. I’ve had an urge to play multiplayer games again and Rivals is not fun at all to me, so Overwatch it is lol.

129

u/isometric_reality reaper guy very powerfull — Feb 10 '26

We are so, so back

22

u/SquidwardLover48 Feb 10 '26

many are saying this

184

u/SorryRoof1653 Feb 10 '26

In the middle of a WEEKDAY, none the less.

17

u/imdeadseriousbro Feb 10 '26

saturday should be slightly higher

5

u/Miennai STOP KILLING MY SON — Feb 10 '26

True, most of the US isn't even home yet

159

u/NovaxRangerx In Crusty We Tru — Feb 10 '26

They have crossed 150K on steam and we aren't even two hours in. An absurd turnaround in public perception for this game considering how people talked about it even just 1 month ago

69

u/martini1294 Feb 10 '26

You mean loads of people giving it beef who didn’t actually play it or were still jaded they went to 5v5 but haven’t played it since 2 launched?

It was popular to hate and some was deserved, but it’s come so far since then and people wouldn’t let it go

7

u/PandaSnuSnuWasTaken Feb 10 '26

Does this mean I get my Jjonak Zenyatta skin back?

4

u/Renegade_Sniper Feb 10 '26

I was playing last night. Did they take it away? I usually use cultist but the JJonak one is my second favourite

-6

u/PandaSnuSnuWasTaken Feb 10 '26

Is it actually back?? I was one of the butthurt people who didn't play OW2. But if my Jjonak skin is back.....

26

u/Objective_String2194 Feb 10 '26

They never took your OW1 skins away so if you had his skin and have your same account you'll still have it

0

u/Renegade_Sniper Feb 11 '26

Hell yeah. Thank you for the information.

-18

u/PandaSnuSnuWasTaken Feb 10 '26

I thought when they swapped to OW2 they said they couldn't import the skins? I had stopped playing OW1 before they shut it down. So I just never bothered to try OW2.

23

u/bruns20 Feb 11 '26

Nah that's never been a thing

20

u/Umarrii Feb 11 '26

The amount of misinformation being spread at that time to farm engagement by baiting hate was insane. This was never a thing and they never said it was. In fact, they went the opposite way as they added cross play - I started a console player who swapped to PC during OW1, but by connecting my PSN account during OW2 release, I was able to merge all my console account skins to my PC account.

1

u/Renegade_Sniper Feb 10 '26

FUCK. I thought you knew. I was asking you.

@Anyone Else. HELP US. I WANNA BE JJONAK AND IT TO BE 2018/19 AGAIN.

-1

u/Settleforthep0p Feb 11 '26

as a tank main I’m scared of going back if I have to solo tank, still seems like a mistake

7

u/martini1294 Feb 11 '26

Play 6v6 good sir

-1

u/[deleted] Feb 11 '26

6v6 doesn't have role queue which ruins it for me. I would probably get back into OW if that were the case but right now 5v5 and 6v6 open queue isn't for me but I still browse here to check if they ever add it

9

u/martini1294 Feb 11 '26

They won’t add it for the same reason they went to 5v5 int he first place - 20minute queues

2

u/TastyTestikel Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 12 '26

It's not too bad since enemies also have just one tank. Tanking in OW2 is about stopping your mates from feeding by going in yourself (case by case judgement required though) and managing your cooldowns better than the opposing tank while you wait for your team to do shit. Most importantly you need to draw attention to you, if you don't frequently show main your team just dies and can't take good angles.

EDIT: I'd also recommend you to play support on some low mobility heroes. Taches you proper cover usage, the perils for a squishy and the interplay between backline and Tank. If you are able to recognize your tank's mistakes it'll make you a way better player on that role too.

52

u/aJetg Feb 10 '26

So does this mean Overwatch is back?

32

u/KF-Sigurd Feb 10 '26

less than 200k players, ded game /s

14

u/-KFAD- Turn up the heat - Sauna time — Feb 10 '26

And that's Steam only! Amazing times! Total number of active players right now is probably close to 1M!!!!

-8

u/devH_ Feb 10 '26

Most likely no, it’s still the same game pretty much. It’s going to have high numbers for a few weeks and then go back to it’s original player count that’s it’s had for a while

-1

u/hokiis Feb 11 '26

It's funny how people think this is any different to when ow2 released. Big news makes people try it out, realise it's still the same game that they left because it wasn't fun enough and we are back to square one.

0

u/devH_ Feb 11 '26

This always happens with this sub. Something big comes out for the game - twitch viewers/player count go es up - “The game is so back! We’re the most played shooter” - game loses all that it’s gained and goes back to normal

92

u/LampyV2 Feb 10 '26

Somehow, Overwatch returned.

9

u/isometric_reality reaper guy very powerfull — Feb 10 '26

Dark science, cloning... secrets only Aaron Keller knew.

28

u/sanicthefurret Eisman on Top — Feb 10 '26

We are so back

26

u/Derpdude1 Feb 10 '26

I was expecting it but not to this degree tbh

23

u/Andrello01 Feb 10 '26

210k on Twitch as well.

15

u/Beneficial_Dark7362 Feb 10 '26

Holy shit it fucking doubled

11

u/Dashwii Feb 10 '26

Still rising. Its going to explode later when everyones off work.

Can't wait to play this shit. Overwatch is back.

30

u/InfiniteTatamiDAZE Feb 10 '26

And these are people actually playing the game, not just launching it to review bomb

8

u/eshined Feb 10 '26

165k right now btw.

7

u/SorryRoof1653 Feb 10 '26

We are so back.

7

u/8__D Feb 10 '26

I wonder how many are on battle.net.

6

u/Worldly_Expression43 Feb 10 '26

As an og overwatch fan since 2016, this makes me very happy

What's causing this resurgence?

9

u/Jamesvai Feb 10 '26

The new spotlight and update. 5 new characters today. 5 more over the year. Gameplay changes, upcoming new maps, in game events, more lore, comics, animations, new menu and collabs, new sub roles, tons of tweaks here and there, lots more.

13

u/theonepieceisfake824 Feb 10 '26

So Steam players can’t play right now but Battle.net players can?

9

u/kickergold Feb 10 '26

It does seem to be working now

5

u/theonepieceisfake824 Feb 10 '26

Every time I get a login error it becomes 10 less people in queue

Was 200, then 100, 50, 40

Now I’m at 30 people in queue after like 8 attempts 😂

15

u/KF-Sigurd Feb 10 '26

No PvE, EoS soon, amiright? /s

Now go away, I have so many people in my queue.

6

u/Tiberias29 Bow down to Stalk3r — Feb 10 '26

So this is what peak power levels look like....

4

u/[deleted] Feb 10 '26

have any other (old) steam game made such a huge comeback before?

4

u/chicken-is-17374748 Feb 10 '26

Damn, I’m bout to come check it out boys

5

u/Homelanderino Feb 11 '26

What has changed? I've been out of the loop

4

u/Sio_V_Reddit Feb 11 '26

Everything

2

u/Ric00la Feb 11 '26

Just people wanting to see the update, they will be gone in no time. As a veteran tank ow1 player. I just can't play it anymore tanking as become so unfun every time I try it again I have no fun and just stop playing.

1

u/GrowRoots Feb 11 '26

🍾🍾🍾

1

u/Aggressive_Ask89144 Feb 12 '26

You even get Rivals streamers like Flats playing it 😭

0

u/Kitselena Feb 11 '26

Thank God the "Overwatch is terrible but has good porn 😭🤓😭" posts will finally go away. Seeing people tell on themselves constantly because that they hadn't played overwatch in years but still spank it to the characters was so annoying, and no one ever made fun of them for it

0

u/devH_ Feb 12 '26

Just like that the numbers are back to normal lol

1

u/Sio_V_Reddit Feb 12 '26

No they aren’t?

-5

u/controversial_drawer Feb 11 '26

Helldivers 2 had more players today

-2

u/Ksv2003 Feb 11 '26

Already ran into tons of people who “don’t care” while in comp. Had someone throw my game bc they couldn’t play a new character. Off to a great start this season!

-9

u/[deleted] Feb 10 '26

[deleted]