Despite being one of the biggest multiplayer games, we haven't heard much about "Overwatch" lately. There's a reason for that: Blizzard has been scaling back development of the game for years as it works on "Overwatch 2." a year ago, the studio announced that Echo would be the last new hero to be released before the sequel is released (that date remains a distant mystery). . Since then, Overwatch has remained largely static. Seasonal events are repeated as before, and the only new things are hero skins and the occasional map.

Remarkably, this stagnant year has not stopped the growth of Overwatch's player base. Speaking to Gamespot about his new role, Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller revealed that the team-based shooter reached 60 million players as of 2021, 10 million more than in late 2019.

"We have 60 million players who love that aspect of the game and are attached to the (PvP) aspect of the game. We know that going forward we have to create the next best version of the team-based shooter."

As with any game, there are several factors that could have created millions of new players: for example, Blizzard may have counted all accounts created in the last free weekend Blizzard may have counted all accounts created in the last free weekend, for example, Blizzard may have counted all accounts created in the last free weekend might be counting all accounts created during the last free weekend. There was also a period last year when the PC version of Overwatch was distributed as part of an esports promotion (for a very short time), but this was quickly shut down. Taking all of this into account, it is safe to assume that most of the 10 million players are actual beginners.

While 60 million may sound like chump change compared to the 100 million player mark for "Apex Legends" or "Call of Duty: Warzone," it is a different world for free games. Overwatch has never been completely free, and it rarely offers significant discounts. Its growth is similar to Rainbow Six Siege, which reached 70 million players earlier this year and regularly sells for less than $10

Overwatch has become a bit stale over the past year with no new heroes, but if you play with friends (and friends alone, the solo queue is an unhappy place to be), it's still a great time. My group got back into it in a big way late last year and again in the last few weeks. It's an itch that no other FPS has scratched, and hopefully Blizzard will carry this momentum into new modes and heroes for Overwatch 2, as well as the much-anticipated PvE missions."