Overwatch 2 launches on Steam with just 15% positive reviews, worst result of any release in 2023
Overwatch 2 has become the first Blizzard game to be released on Steam. Although the launch is decent in terms of player count, user reviews leave much to be desired.
On August 10, Overwatch 2 debuted on Steam and received mostly negative reception from players. At the moment of writing, the game is rated “Overwhelmingly Negative”, with only 15% of the 22,619 user reviews being positive.
Looking at reviews, it seems like a lot of players are using the Steam launch of Overwatch 2 to express their opinions about certain elements of the game that Blizzard has already been criticized for. This applies to broken promises regarding the PvE mode, absurd/predatory monetization practices, and the lack of new quality content.
According to SteamDB, Overwatch 2 is now the lowest-rated Steam release in 2023 (among over 7,300 titles). It is worth noting that ratings may vary slightly from those displayed on the store, because SteamDB uses its own formula to estimate the score:
“For every 10x the reviews we have, we should be 2x more certain that the rating is correct,” the explanation reads. For example, if a game has 1 review, SteamDB is 100% uncertain about what its rating should be, 10 reviews — 50% uncertain, 100 reviews — 25% uncertain, etc. So for a game with 100 reviews, of which 90% are positive, SteamDB is 75% certain and 25% uncertain that its score is correct. The final rating in this case is calculated like this: 75% * 90% (game’s rating on Steam) + 25% * 50% (average rating that all titles should be biased towards) = 80%.
Top 20 lowest-rated Steam releases of 2023
Despite the backlash from players, the Steam version of Overwatch 2 attracted tens of thousands of players. At the moment of writing, it has already peaked at 52,349 concurrent players (via SteamDB).
This ranks Overwatch 2 as the 13th Steam release of 2023 by peak concurrent users (CCU), right between Eternal Return (52,853 CCU) and Age of Wonders 4 (42,877 CCU). Below are the top 10 releases by that metric:
- Hogwarts Legacy — 879,308;
- Baldur’s Gate 3 — 814,666;
- Sons of the Forest — 412,257;
- Tale of Immortal — 184,171;
- Resident Evil 4 remake —168,191;
- Remnant II — 110,856;
- Dave the Diver — 98,480;
- BattleBit Remastered — 87,323;
- Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty — 75,906;
- Street Fighter 6 — 70,573.
Along with the Steam launch of Overwatch 2, Blizzard also introduced three short PvE missions as part of the new Invasion bundle. It also drew criticism mainly due to its $15 price tag.
