Overwatch just broke its record for the number of concurrent players

The huge patch released recently seems to have done the trick, and it looks like quite a few returning and new fans have given it a shot.
Text: Jonas Mäki
Published 2026-02-11

When Overwatch 2 was released just over three years ago, many felt that it was a bit lacklustre with limited new features, and the few that did exist received significant criticism. This has since led to a decline in player numbers.

Fortunately, Blizzard has listened to the feedback and decided to address the issues, and yesterday released what is perhaps the largest patch to the series ever. You can check out all the new features at this link, but be prepared to buy a new mouse afterwards, as there is a serious risk that your scroll wheel will wear out from the enormous amount of text you have to scroll through.

And apparently, the message about the huge update has been heard. SteamDB now notes that Overwatch 2 has set a new Steam player record. Four hours ago (at the time of writing), there were 165,651 concurrent gamers online, which is more than it has ever had before, and more than twice as many as at launch. Whether Overwatch 2 will be able to retain its audience in the long term remains to be seen, of course, but we can at least say that it has got off to a good start.

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