Overwatch 2 Is Now the Lowest Rated Game On Steam
Overwatch 2 is now the worst-rated game of all time on Steam.
Ahead of the massive Season 6: Invasion update, Overwatch 2 debuted on Steam for the first time. Blizzard reported a decrease in player engagement earlier this year and has been looking to create more hype around the game ever since.
At first, adding Overwatch 2 to Steam seemed promising. It almost instantly skyrocketed to the top five best-selling Steam games by revenue, hitting a peak concurrent player count of over 75,600 this past weekend. It is now in the top 20 list of most-played games on Steam.
Unfortunately, Steam has also become another way for the gaming community to share its disdain for Blizzard and many of its choices with the Overwatch sequel.
Overwatch 2 Bombarded with Negative Reviews on Steam
Overwatch 2 currently has a score of 0.93 on Steam, according to Steam250. This has put Overwatch 2 at the very bottom of the Steam rankings, making it the worst-rated game of all time.
This score was calculated based on Overwatch 2 having an approval rating of 10% out of its 123,599 votes (at the time of this article being written). The amount of negative reviews has only continued to pour in.
Why Is Overwatch 2 Rated So Low on Steam?
Overwatch 2 has been heavily criticized since it was released — even before. Gamers have questioned why Blizzard felt the need to create and sell an entirely new game when the changes didn’t feel that substantial, something developers have argued against.
One of the biggest updates to Overwatch 2 was going to be an extensive PvE mode with customized skill trees and abilities, as well as unique storylines for each hero. Developers were allegedly focused on this for quite some time, leaving Overwatch players feeling a bit abandoned with no new content.
When developers announced that the original PvE concept was being scrapped, the Overwatch 2 community was outraged. Many expressed that they felt lied to.
The Overwatch 2 team attempted to make up for it with some PvE content in Season 6, but fans were outraged at its simplicity and the fact that it will cost extra. The game has been accused of being “greedy” and many have been rooting for its downfall ever since.
The new monetization and battle pass system of Overwatch 2 seems to be the biggest reason for the negative reviews on Steam. Many reviews have expressed that Blizzard doesn’t care about the players and simply wants their money.
A lot of the negative reviews are also from Chinese Steam accounts. According to Niko Partners Director of Research Daniel Ahmad, about two-thirds of the reviews are written in Chinese and 97% of them are negative. Along with the monetization, Chinese gamers have also expressed frustration with Blizzard for Overwatch 2 shutting down earlier this year when the company ended its agreement with NetEase.
With Overwatch 2 now on Steam, Chinese players have decided to express themselves about this issue for the first time. A lot of Chinese players have also allegedly given other low-rated games positive reviews just to ensure that Overwatch 2 remains at the bottom of the charts.
The negative reviews are obviously not sitting well with Overwatch 2 developers, but Blizzard stated it’s going to base the game’s Steam performance on “engagement” and “investment” instead. For now, Blizzard feels that the game’s activity level has gone up and it doesn’t seem too worried.
Olivia is a long-time esports journalist and editor who covers just about every game but has a deep love for the FGC. Her goal is to find community-driven stories that bring a new perspective to the esports scene. In the past, she has worked for Team Liquid, Rogue, Inven Global, Dot Esports, Upcomer, and more. Outside of esports, Olivia enjoys Kirby, Pokemon TCG, Fallout, and writing science fiction. She can be found trying out new foods, traveling, or hanging out with her two orange cats. Fun fact: Olivia can do some video game and cartoon impressions!