The Downfall of Overwatch 2
Overwatch 2 holds the unfortunate distinction of being the worst user-reviewed game on Steam. The game still has tens of thousands of players since its recent launch on the platform.
As reported by Steam250, which shows the 100 worst Steam games based on user reviews, Overwatch 2’s score stands at a mere 0.96. The game has received an approval rating of merely 10% from its reviews out of 92,028 votes. That score is enough to beat War of the Three Kingdoms which previously held the title.
The game already landed on PC and consoles in 2022. You might wonder why the game is receiving so much hate only a few days after its launch on Steam. All the negative reviews are mostly on one problem, i.e. monetization. Blizzard forced the players who bought Overwatch 1 to update into a free-to-play sequel.
The developer also rendered the original title unplayable. They received a lot of criticism for this move. It also faced several controversies, notably for the cancellation of its highly anticipated PvE Hero mode. Players considered this mode as the very feature that validated the necessity of a sequel.
Daniel Ahmad, Niko Partners’ Director of Research and Insights, highlights that the game is also facing substantial backlash from Chinese users. Ahmad noted in a tweet that almost one-third of Overwatch 2’s Steam user reviews are composed in simplified Chinese, with an overwhelmingly negative sentiment of 97%.
The agreement between Blizzard and NetEase for game distributions has ended in China. This led to a systematic shutdown of Blizzard games in January. That means Chinese players lost access to their accounts and the option to play on their national server.
Now, all we can do is wait for the next financial report to see whether it is a success or a failure.