The online shooter Overwatch is popular, that's no secret. But how popular? That's actually hard to say without a specific breakdown of player numbers over the year-and-a-half since it came out, which isn't forthcoming in the latest announcement of another big, round number surpassed. But things do appear to be going pretty well.
What a bunch of misfits and freaks we got here—we love it! Thanks for teaming up with us, heroes. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/aBENKWS17fOctober 16, 2017
As we noted when Overwatch broke 25 million players, and again at 30 million, these aren't the most practically useful accounting of its player base. Some of the "players" will be alt accounts, and some will no doubt have been registered during free weekends. There's also no breakdown by platform, which would've been fun. (I asked, but they said no, sorry.)
Even so, the number very clearly speaks to the game's success. Growth has slowed—Overwatch took just three months to go from 25 million to 30, half the time it needed to move from 30 to 35 million—but the fact is that it continues to enjoy significant growth well over a year after its release, and without any kind of meaningful discount to the purchase price.
One of the big reasons for that is Blizzard's ongoing and very active support of the game, with regular tweaks and updates to the core gameplay, as well as high-profile events like the currently-underway Halloween Terror, which offer new skins, modes, and seasonal loot. It runs until November 1.
