Overwatch 2’s Beta Lost 99% of Its Viewers in Just the First Week on Twitch

Kaah · May 7, 2022

turbobrick said:
While it is a good indicator, its not always a direct correlation. From what I remember, OW was never really that popular on Twitch compared to other multiplayer games. Even back in 2017 - 2018 or so the game would usually be under 40k viewers.

It is weird some people are trying to call this a failure just because the game goes back to its regular viewership after beta drops. While I have no data, I would bet a lot of viewers on Twitch watch streams for the streamer rather than the game. If their favorite streamers only played the game during the beta release, they're not going to stick around and watch other streamers still playing the game. Some probably will, but most will not.

That and probably a good amount of those 1.5 million people don't regularly watch Twitch anyway, and just wanted the beta.

Not saying it's a failure, but so far Blizzard clearly failed to impressed a new audience or even potentiel returning players like myself.
It's the sequel of Overwatch we're talking about, not just any game. The original was a juggernaut back in the days so of course people have high expectation for this one. And IMO the twitch numbers reflect that the OW2 beta did not met expectation set for the sequel of one the biggest competitive fps ever made.
And maybe that's on Blizzard for calling this "Overwatch 2" but that's a different discussion.

jman1954goat · May 7, 2022

You can tell how very much an alive game overwatch is by how much weirdos obsess over how "dead" it is.

Arsic · May 7, 2022

It's one of the most boring games ever to watch. Even at pro level it's a snooze fest for the actual gameplay.

The game is fun to play but certain games are just torture to watch. Destiny 2 is like this for me minus when a new raid comes out.

SEATLiens · May 7, 2022

Obiously the drops helped but most the OW streamers have viewership close to before the OW2 beta released. The interest just isnt there anymore.

NoneLikeAlex · May 7, 2022

jman1954goat said:
You can tell overwatch is very much an alive game overwatch is by how much weirdos obsess over how "dead" it is.

This. Just like Destiny 2.

Spinluck · May 7, 2022

I'm finding games instantly in the beta.

Skyzar · May 7, 2022

It's almost certainly going to drop by 99.9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% a month after release.

Wouldn't blame Harbleu if he never streamed OW again.

Mesoian · May 7, 2022

The only thing that's going to make people shy away from this game faster than they did in OW1 is the higher skill floor. People are going to be real dismayed when they aren't rewarded for playing badly anymore. 5v5 means the hinge for failure is a lot looser than it used to be.

Spinluck · May 7, 2022

Mesoian said:
The only thing that's going to make people shy away from this game faster than they did in OW1 is the higher skill floor. People are going to be real dismayed when they aren't rewarded for playing badly anymore. 5v5 means the hinge for failure is a lot looser than it used to be.

While you're right, I'm thinking the casual stuff along with PvE might make up for that.

I also think it's good the skill floor has been lowered and that individuality is rewarded a lot more while collective teamwork is still the most rewarded thing in the game.

The game is still pretty accessible imo.

tripleg · May 7, 2022

Spinluck said:
I'm finding games instantly in the beta.

Isn't the beta only just quick play and not mmr bound? if so, that's kinda expected.

Musubi · May 7, 2022

Strings said:
Meh, they made a stink about it being a surge in viewership regardless of it being when keys were dropping. They invited this kind of headline.

It literally doesn't matter why people were watching. They do this to gauge interest levels in the game. Clearly people are interested in Overwatch 2. It doesn't matter if they watch it on twitch. The whole thing is just a marketing stunt from the get go.

Spinluck · May 7, 2022

tripleg said:
Isn't the beta only just quick play and not mmr bound? if so, that's kinda expected.

There's an open queue

saint · May 7, 2022

Kalor said:
This isn't even a story. People wanted keys so of course it dropped.

.

Falchion · May 8, 2022

Once people like me got access to the beta we stopped watching and started playing.

tripleg · May 8, 2022

Falchion said:
Once people like me got access to the beta we stopped watching and started playing.

I don't know if this argument (while running rampant in this thread from the OW defense force) holds up when its 99% of viewers. Yes, I agree, a large focus was people watching for the beta key, but are we sure they are playing and/or are we sure that people didn't tune out because they didnt like what they saw? I doubt you can say all 99% were interested in a beta key then turned it off when they got one and are playing the game nonstop, so much that they literally dont watch any OW seeing as OW1 was a reasonble success viewership wise.

slothrop · May 8, 2022

The original viewership was exactly the opposite of organic. It was actively gamed and incentivized. There's nothing wrong really with that marketing tactic, but it's not even worth talking about those numbers as a metric for the analysis of anything meaningful

turbobrick · May 8, 2022

tripleg said:
Isn't the beta only just quick play and not mmr bound? if so, that's kinda expected.

There's still MMR to match you with similar skill players. Its probably just a bit looser than competitive would be so queues are faster. I'm sure it uses the same system as OW1.

tripleg said:
I don't know if this argument (while running rampant in this thread from the OW defense force) holds up when its 99% of viewers. Yes, I agree, a large focus was people watching for the beta key, but are we sure they are playing and/or are we sure that people didn't tune out because they didnt like what they saw? I doubt you can say all 99% were interested in a beta key then turned it off when they got one and are playing the game nonstop, so much that they literally dont watch any OW seeing as OW1 was a reasonble success viewership wise.

How many new viewers do you actually expect from just a quick play beta? I already mentioned it, but I would bet most people watch twitch for the streamers, not the game, and if their streamers are not playing OW, then they won't be watching OW.

Spinluck · May 8, 2022

turbobrick said:
There's still MMR to match you with similar skill players. Its probably just a bit looser than competitive would be so queues are faster. I'm sure it uses the same system as OW1.

yup, gm players are getting matched with some really good people, otherwise, the games would be pretty lopsided.

that said, it is a bit wonky with the match making but it's a qp beta so I don't think it's a big deal.

lairo · May 8, 2022

Most people were fans of OW back when it was fun and had development. Then all of the Blizzard shit came to light, they dropped all development altogether, and now nostalgically we wanted to see what they'd done after so long to find... it's pretty much the same damn thing but just a teensy bit uglier and with 2 fewer players per match. Never been so easy to maintain disinterest.

Spinluck · May 8, 2022

Mesoian said:
The only thing that's going to make people shy away from this game faster than they did in OW1 is the higher skill floor. People are going to be real dismayed when they aren't rewarded for playing badly anymore. 5v5 means the hinge for failure is a lot looser than it used to be.

I don't think OW rewarded bad play but more so coddled bad players.

PJTierney · May 8, 2022

Lukar said:
It'll go up again once beta drops are enabled this weekend.

If people need an incentive in order to watch, and wouldn't do so willingly without one, is that a problem?

Nacho · May 8, 2022

I mean they got large streamers to stream it for a few days in additon to the drops. if those large streamers that make up, alone, probably 80+% of that viewership high don't suddenly become overwatch only streamers, the viewership is of course going to plummet. That and esports are how most of the top games maintain such high viewership, is the regularly streaming large streamers.

Was anyone expecting an incomplete beta of essentailly an upgrade to a 6 year old game to suddenly propel it to unseen heights on twitch? Especially when, for whatever dumb reason, they decided to put one of their main attractions with the Overwatch League exclusively on youtube?

SimplyComplex said:
Twitch metrics are such a weird way to measure long term success. News flash, a majority of people would rather play the game rather than watch someone else unless.

Yeah, Twitch successful games are successful. But games that aren't successful on twitch aren't necessarily failures or anythign. People act like anything not in the top 10 on twitch is a dead game if it's not some kind of hidden indie darling.

tripleg · May 8, 2022

turbobrick said:
How many new viewers do you actually expect from just a quick play beta? I already mentioned it, but I would bet most people watch twitch for the streamers, not the game, and if their streamers are not playing OW, then they won't be watching OW.

Isn't that part of the problem though? It's not like OW2 was a brand new game on different infrastructure, why would they release the beta in a state that is, to your point, not that interesting to view and generate hype?

Spinluck · May 8, 2022

Nacho said:
I mean they got large streamers to stream it for a few days in additon to the drops. if those large streamers that make up, alone, probably 80+% of that viewership high don't suddenly become overwatch only streamers, the viewership is of course going to plummet. That and esports are how most of the top games maintain such high viewership, is the regularly streaming large streamers.

Was anyone expecting an incomplete beta of essentailly an upgrade to a 6 year old game to suddenly propel it to unseen heights on twitch? Especially when, for whatever dumb reason, they decided to put one of their main attractions with the Overwatch League exclusively on youtube?

Yeah, Twitch successful games are successful. But games that aren't successful on twitch aren't necessarily failures or anythign. People act like anything not in the top 10 on twitch is a dead game if it's not some kind of hidden indie darling.

People are weird, I pretty much never really watch streamers but did so for the beta, I'd imagine some were in the same boat as me.

*get code*

*close Twitch*

I also don't think OW is as easy to follow as a super slow MOBA or a fast pace battle royale.

Skyzar · May 8, 2022

Overwatch 2 beta is a complete failure and worse than the original

A reader is unimpressed by the beta of Overwatch and argues that instead of fixing anything it only deepens the problems with the original.

metro.co.uk

I dunno if it's in the printed version but Metro is the United Kingdom's highest-circulation print newspaper.

If I didn't know better I'd say Blizzard were trying to turn the game into a Call Of Duty clone and if it wasn't for the characters looking so different you'd barely say it was a hero shooter at all anymore.
...
Based on the beta, all Overwatch 2 is going to do is accelerate the decline of the franchise, with a sequel that seems to understand nothing about the original's appeal or what fans have been upset with in the last few years. Rather than revive and improve Overwatch, at this rate all the sequel is going to do is bang the nail into its coffin.

Fans in the OT are already getting bored of it but they think it's because it's quick play only and not competitive (basically, un-ranked matches).

Dunno about everyone else but if the game is fantastic, I don't have to play ranked to keep enjoying it.

Dolce · May 8, 2022

75k viewers of the league on YouTube again today. I keep it up to get my sister drops.

turbobrick · May 8, 2022

tripleg said:
Isn't that part of the problem though? It's not like OW2 was a brand new game on different infrastructure, why would they release the beta in a state that is, to your point, not that interesting to view and generate hype?

Maybe, but I think this early all the people watching on Twitch were the people already watching. OW Twitch viewership was never really that high, even years ago when the game was more popular. When I started watching OW streamers back in 2017 the game was usually around 30k viewers. Its at 20k right now (adding both OW and OW2 categories) which isn't that big of a drop. All the biggest early OW streamers turned to variety over time.

I don't think the game will ever hit the heights of the original OW release, but that's because people know what OW is and its no longer this new thing, and there's a lot more competition these days from other games. I do think there's a chance for it to grow from where it is now though, but I doubt it will happen until after the game is fully released where anyone can play it.

Skyzar said:
Fans in the OT are already getting bored of it but they think it's because it's quick play only and not competitive (basically, un-ranked matches).

Dunno about everyone else but if the game is fantastic, I don't have to play ranked to keep enjoying it.

The people who play the most, which are most likely the regular people to post in an OT, like playing competitive. Not all of course. Though official Blizzard stats from a while ago show that the people that play the most spend the most time in competitive compared to other modes.

Nacho · May 8, 2022

Skyzar said:
Overwatch 2 beta is a complete failure and worse than the original

A reader is unimpressed by the beta of Overwatch and argues that instead of fixing anything it only deepens the problems with the original.

metro.co.uk

I dunno if it's in the printed version but Metro is the United Kingdom's highest-circulation print newspaper.

Fans in the OT are already getting bored of it but they think it's because it's quick play only and not competitive (basically, un-ranked matches).

Dunno about everyone else but if the game is fantastic, I don't have to play ranked to keep enjoying it.

I mean, getting bored of the beta isn't really an indication of the direction of OW2 being bad. It's just a beta with very very few features and minimal new content available. It is what it is. I hate it too in that regards, but Im also like.. well its better than just continuing on with OW1 as its been for the last 2 years. That article is incredibly shitty, it's a lot of like unfounded opinions and complaining about changes without really concretely convincing why they're bad.

Hasney · May 8, 2022

turbobrick said:
The people who play the most, which are most likely the regular people to post in an OT, like playing competitive. Not all of course. Though official Blizzard stats from a while ago show that the people that play the most spend the most time in competitive compared to other modes.

Yeah, it's not even the lack of competitive for everyone, but missing arcade modes and no progression for cosmetics even that makes it so people are going to be dropping off and checking in for the next changes.

Once this beta goes, it'll be a huge shame. I'll win 9 mystery heroes a week for the new event skins, but OW1's current state will be bad to play after experiencing the bright future the game seemingly has, unless the next phases go all Blizzard and drop the ball.

Spinluck · May 8, 2022

Nacho said:
I mean, getting bored of the beta isn't really an indication of the direction of OW2 being bad. It's just a beta with very very few features and minimal new content available. It is what it is. I hate it too in that regards, but Im also like.. well its better than just continuing on with OW1 as its been for the last 2 years. That article is incredibly shitty, it's a lot of like unfounded opinions and complaining about changes without really concretely convincing why they're bad.

If OW Live had nothing but quick play I'd never touch it.

Nacho · May 8, 2022

Spinluck said:
If OW Live had nothing but quick play I'd never touch it.

Yeah, I kinda gave up on grinding comp back when they stopped releasing new content. QP got boring aside from random bouts of interest, usually piqued by overwatch league making me want to be good at the game and reminding me what it can be when people work together. After I wasnt interested in comp much, qp just isnt a draw to the game, the games are shit shows with people just queuing to play whatever random hero they logged in to want to play (which is fine, thats what qp is for. it just ends up as a frustrating experience if you want to do anythign more than dick aroun)

Niklel · May 8, 2022

Skyzar said:
Overwatch 2 beta is a complete failure and worse than the original

A reader is unimpressed by the beta of Overwatch and argues that instead of fixing anything it only deepens the problems with the original.

metro.co.uk

I dunno if it's in the printed version but Metro is the United Kingdom's highest-circulation print newspaper.

Not even going to give this article a click. Holy shit, "turning the game into a Call of Duty clone". Is the author high? So dumb.

I'm loving the beta. I'd say the game actually got much closer to the original Overwatch experience, though it was so long ago, I might be misremembering.

Mesoian · May 8, 2022

Spinluck said:
I don't think OW rewarded bad play but more so coddled bad players.

That's a better way of putting it, yeah.

Spinluck · May 9, 2022

Niklel said:
Not even going to give this article a click. Holy shit, "turning the game into a Call of Duty clone". Is the author high? So dumb.

I'm loving the beta. I'd say the game actually got much closer to the original Overwatch experience, though it was so long ago, I might be misremembering.

Yeah, some interesting takes out there, or articles that come off as hitpieces.

For what it's worth, not all the impressions are as bad as some here would like you to believe.

https://www.gameinformer.com/opinion/2022/05/06/the-overwatch-2-beta-is-proof-that-heroes-never-die

https://www.windowscentral.com/overwatch-2-beta-impressions

Fridaynightcatlady · May 9, 2022

I mean, what did people expect? Isn't OW 2 PVP extremely similar to OW? The biggest selling point of this new game is PVE and that's not even out yet, right? Like, I've seen OW 2 PVP and it's just like watching OW with some minor map/character changes.

Overwatch 2’s Beta Lost 99% of Its Viewers in Just the First Week on Twitch

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