Overwatch 2 had a rough start on Steam, and it seems like Blizzard’s decision to bring the title backfired immensely.
When Blizzard announced Overwatch 2 a few years ago, it was still considered a questionable move. Nobody was complaining about the original Overwatch, and the decision to overhaul the game by announcing a new one was quite controversial.
The release day arrived, and the veteran players were put against problems that did not even exist in the first game, such as game-breaking bugs, not being able to transfer your items from the first game, and UI problems that accidentally let you purchase items in-game. People who cared about the title pushed their interest more. However, Blizzard dropped another baffling decision; it was about canceling the promised PvE mode for Overwatch 2.
Now, we do not know the motive behind Overwatch 2 coming to Valve’s game service, Steam. There are some guesses, such as Blizzard getting desperate to actually advertise Overwatch 2 or giving easy access to Overwatch 2 to people who do not wish to use the Battle.net service provided by Blizzard themselves. Although these guesses are fairly fit for the reason Overwatch 2 is on Steam, Blizzard missed a crucial point that makes Steam unique from Battle.net, and that is allowing people to rate their games.
This gives a proper guide to people who want to buy or try out free games. When the game is solid, people tend to write good reviews or joke about the game to give possible buyers the green light. However, if the game is terrible, the reviews make it as apparent as a day. When Overwatch 2 got ported over to Steam on the 10th of August, people started bombarding the game with negative reviews due to bad caretaking, awful microtransactions, and some people further claiming the biggest cash grab of the century.
Blizzard hasn’t made an official statement yet, but maybe all the negative reviews further discouraged people from trying out the game. Despite being all negative, getting notoriously popular isn’t a bad thing per se. Overwatch 2 is currently free-to-play, and you can try out the game on Stream right now, but if you want to have the benefits of a premium player, it costs 5 dollars to get the battle pass.
Even though that fee seems very small, most of the currency you earn in the game is abysmal, and it would take a non-stop 40 or so weeks of gameplay to get a legendary tier skin or unlock a new hero to try out. Therefore, Blizzard showcases that paying up for the skin or hero you want is certainly better than working endlessly for it, and that is exactly why people are mad about the whole Overwatch 2 deal.
The overwhelmingly negative reviews were around 25 thousand yesterday, but since the release of Overwatch 2 on Steam, the reviews have spiked up to 80 thousand and still counting negative reviews. It is unknown whether Blizzard will have to pull Overwatch 2 from Steam or keep advertising the game on the opposite turf.
