Following a successful launch on Twitch, the Overwatch 2 beta lost almost all of its viewership just a week after its release.
As reported by Forbes, the revamp of Blizzard's popular multiplayer game saw a record-breaking launch with 1.5 million viewers on Twitch. However, the Overwatch 2 beta has since experienced a huge drop-off, losing almost 99% of its viewership after just six days of availability, going from 1.5 million concurrent viewers to 15,000.
Upon its launch, the beta had exceeded Overwatch's highest viewership number of 439,152, set on the inaugural day of the Overwatch League in January 2018. At the time of writing, Overwatch 2 has only 2,700 viewers on the streaming platform, while its prequel Overwatch has over five times as many at 14,700. As a result, Overwatch 2 is currently just outside of the top 20 games on the platform, while Overwatch remains one of the most-watched games of all time on Twitch.
Prior to the new beta's launch, Activision-Blizzard ran an extensive Twitch Drops campaign, partnering with popular streamers like Flats, Yuuie, Emonng and Aspen, among others. The campaign allowed the streamers to reward their viewers with access to the Overwatch 2 beta, which contributed to the huge viewer numbers in the first few days after launch.
Overwatch 2 was announced in 2019 as a standalone sequel to Blizzard's multiplayer first-person shooter Overwatch. In 2021, it was reported that the sequel would be delayed from its expected 2022 release, which was later confirmed by Activision Blizzard in November that same year. "While we are still planning to deliver a substantial amount of content from Blizzard next year, we are now planning for a later launch for Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV than originally envisaged," the company said in a statement.
Overwatch was released in May 2016 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and was made available on the Nintendo Switch in 2019. Currently, Activision Blizzard is in the process of being acquired by Microsoft, a purchase its shareholders approved for $69 billion at $95 a share. However, Wall Street insiders have predicted that the deal will likely fail. Though both Activision Blizzard and Microsoft have agreed to the deal, it still needs to be approved by the United States government as well as the European Union and China, among others.
Overwatch 2 is currently in closed beta on PC and does not yet have a set release date, with Blizzard confirming that it won't be ready until 2023. Diablo IV, another major title from Blizzard, has also been delayed to 2023. However, Diablo Immortal, Blizzard's first-ever mobile game, is set to release on June 2 on Android, iOS, and Microsoft Windows.
Source: Forbes