One of the most anticipated games of 2022 was released yesterday. For the joy of many fans from all around the world, Overwatch 2 is finally here. The game had a major change from its previous title, which was becoming free-to-play. There were a lot of watch parties and many streamers that broadcast the game, showing their viewers everything that was new.
Most people have been praising many changes the Overwatch team did. However, despite the good gameplay, appealing new maps, and a new hero, Overwatch 2 launch had its fair share of problems. There were long queues, but that was already expected. Players getting disconnected from servers was the main problem, with a lot of people not being able to enter the game. At one point in time, there were a little over 40K people waiting in the queue.
There was also a vast number of players that merged their Overwatch accounts, but unfortunately, some of their cosmetics and currency weren't showing up. Overwatch 2 was also the recipient of two DDoS attacks, which further increased the server problems the game was already facing. All of these problems cast a shadow on the launch of a game that has been receiving many praises for its new gameplay.
On its release day, Overwatch 2 was the most played game on Twitch, with 13.1K Peak Channels broadcasting the game, almost double the numbers of Fortnite, which was the second most streamed game by the metric. The game was in fourth place on the Average Channels list, with 3.7K channels streaming it on average. Only Valorant, Apex Legends, and the Just Chatting category were able to beat it.
When it comes to Hours Watched and Peak Viewers, the game was third in both metrics. Many viewers were interested to see how the new game was going to look, how the gameplay had changed, and all the new cosmetics that were added. Viewers watched many streamers playing the new Blizzard title for 5.37 million hours, with up to 610K people watching the game simultaneously.
The main responsible for the great viewership numbers that Overwatch 2 achieved on Twitch, was an ex-Overwatch pro player and Twitch megastar xQc. With viewers watching his stream for 1.04 million hours, more than all the nine channels on the list combined, the North American streamer entertained thousands of viewers. It was a return to his origins for the streamer, and viewers were excited to see if he still had what it took to compete at a professional level. A_Seagull was the second most watched channel, with moistcr1tikal securing third place.
Despite numerous problems on its release day, it’s undeniable that Overwatch 2 caught the attention of many viewers. People were eager to try the new game, while others were glad to see some of their favorite content creators either return to the game or experiment it for the first time. With the Overwatch 2 team already working on fixing the server issues, and other bugs, all players will hopefully be able to enjoy the game soon.
Header: RTP Arena
