Overwatch's Steam reviews creep up to "mixed" as playercount surges

Ah, Overwatch, what are you up to now? Well, apart from cosmetic prices that give my wallet the shakes, it seems that Blizzard Entertainment's shooter is having a bit of a moment again, at least on Steam. Between new heroes like Shion and an upcoming YOASOBI collaboration, there's enough there to certainly get me to redownload it. However, despite Blizzard's best efforts, players are dealing quite a beating to the game's overall reception on the Steam Marketplace.

It isn't uncommon to see new PC games or existing titles have a cultural shift on Steam. That's especially true of FPS games, with genre titans like Call of Duty proving they're not immune to the voices of disgruntled players. Remember when the launch of Warzone 2 was immediately sent to the Steam gulag? Well, Overwatch is still feeling that same wrath, as it's currently sitting at "mixed" when it comes to recent reviews.

To be fair, it's actually an improvement. Before Overwatch 2 rebranded itself to simply Overwatch, reviews on Steam sat in the "mostly negative" range. Out of over 7k recent additions and 136k reviews left in English, Overwatch is creeping back up ever so slightly. However, a glance at what people are saying paints a different picture. As you're probably expecting, a lot of it is aimed at Blizzard's aggressive microtransactions.

One example calls Blizzard a "greedy trash company, now charging $100 for a bundle, bonkers even $60 is unreasonable." If you're wondering just how bad things are on that front, the Overwatch Nyan Cafe Ultra skins are a particularly egregious case of money getting in the way of enjoyment. Do you have $100 / £84.99 spare to get dripped up for your next skirmish in the arena?

With the new Overwatch season currently underway, it is seeing a steady stream of teams head into battle. According to Steam Charts, Overwatch has seen a recent 24-hour peak of just over 74k players. That has fallen to the 66k mark at the time of writing, but it's still a sturdy foundation. Comparatively, June saw one of the biggest peaks yet, with over 102k players booting up the game. It's not quite near the high of 164,636, but it's a start.

Considering that the numbers lingered between 45k and 50k between January 2025 and January 2026, with some occasional spikes in the 60k range, it's a notable improvement. Whether Blizzard can maintain this momentum is another question. We'll have to see what upcoming Overwatch events can do to keep players interested.