Overwatch has reached new highs in player count on Steam following its Reign of Talon update today, as players have come back in droves to check out what’s new.
The removal of the 2 in the title and addition of five new heroes is just the beginning of Reign of Talon, a year-long content plan that will add 10 heroes total in 2026. That, along with numerous quality-of-life updates like sub-roles, a new UI, a renewed focus on narrative, new collabs like today’s Hello Kitty & Friends shop update, and more throughout the year has players buzzing.
Overwatch just reached a new all-time high of players with over 158,000 concurrents, which puts it ahead of games like Helldivers 2, Rust, Deadlock, and even Marvel Rivals in the same time period as players look to play new heroes Domina, Anran, Emre, Mizuki, and of course, Jetpack Cat.
The resurgence in players on Steam is a good sign for the game, as this is just one of several platforms OW is available on. Battle.net is where it originated, and it’s also playable on PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch, so there’s a good chance the overall numbers are looking quite healthy.
Is this sustainable? I have no idea. But honestly, I’m glad to see it. The push for Overwatch 2 as a sequel was clearly a severe misstep, likely spurred on by upper management as opposed to the teams actually working on the game, and it being rectified now is a positive change and move in the right direction for its future.
As a fan of OW and also Marvel Rivals, I hope both games continue to push each other to improve, because complacency and cockiness are just plain bad for everyone. If OW continues its momentum, then Marvel Rivals may answer with a solid update in return, and I hope that back-and-forth continues forever.
Overwatch will celebrate its 10th anniversary in May, and I hope that the momentum continues throughout with more updates like this one. This is just the first step, and I’m sure the buzz will stabilize, but for now, I’m just happy for the folks at Blizzard who must be happy so far with what they’ve heard and seen.
