Following a hugely successful open beta, Blizzard launched Overwatch (see our first impressions here) on May 24th. Only two weeks later the company announced it had hit the seven million player mark. But now, Overwatch, which is Blizzard"s only new IP in more than 15 years, has hit a new milestone, with 10 million players in less than a month. These players come from all over the world and play on PC, the Xbox One and the PS4.
With a one-time payment of $40 or $60, Overwatch has proven to be a very successful title for the company, best known for its Warcraft franchise. And that’s no easy feat, considering Blizzard is a business that basically found the secret formula to turn any game and IP into pure gold. World of Warcraft at its peak had around 12-14 million monthly players, while its free digital card-game Hearthstone, currently has around 40 million players.
With those expectations floating around, Overwatch had a lot riding on it. Built from the ashes of the company’s canceled Project Titan MMO, the team shooter represents the decade-long efforts of some of Blizzard’s best. And by all accounts the team delivered.
Almost universally praised for its style, and especially for its gameplay, Overwatch has already established itself as a household name in the gaming world, and Blizzard’s new IP gamble seems to have paid off.
Source: Blizzard