Overwatch 2 loses 99% of Twitch viewers just one week after beta release

Philip Trahan
overwatch 2 sad tracer with twitch logo

Despite Overwatch 2’s promising debut on Twitch thanks to the help of Beta drops, the hero shooter has already lost a massive portion of its viewership after just one week.

The hype for the sequel to Blizzard’s massively successful hero shooter was at an all-time high last week as players scrambled to gain access to the Overwatch 2 Beta.

While some players were able to snag an early spot in the Beta, those left behind could find their spots by watching popular Twitch streamers playing the game to grab their Beta access through Twitch Drops.

As a result of the surrounding hype and players clambering to get Beta access, Overwatch 2 broke viewership records across Twitch, with over 1 million concurrent viewers tuning in to try and snag Beta codes. Though it seems that record wasn’t meant to continue, as Twitch’s current viewer numbers for the game are much lower than last week’s peak.

Overwatch 2 Sojourn gameplay
Sojourn made her highly anticipated debut in the first Overwatch 2 Beta

At the time of writing, Overwatch 2 is sitting at 1.4k viewers on Twitch – a far cry from the 1.5 million concurrent viewers during the Beta’s launch.

While it’s natural that viewership would slowly fall off from Twitch as more players gained access to the Beta and were able to get their hands on the game, the drop-off in viewership is quite steep. That compounded with the issues that many players have brought up regarding Overwatch 2’s Beta could potentially spell trouble for the game.

Overwatch 2’s reception has already proven to be mixed, with a plethora of both positive and negative feedback being shared by players across the internet.

Overwatch 2’s mixed community reception was further echoed by many content creators online, such as Twitch streamers Sleepy and Myth.

overwatch 2 mercy stands in front of tim beansons on toronto map
Many classic Overwatch heroes sport new designs in the new Beta.

Additionally, players have already begun asking Blizzard to fix various issues with the game, as many are having trouble even getting into matches due to the influx of new players and the game’s controversial role queue system.

Though Overwatch 2’s viewership has fallen from its peak, there are plenty of chances for the game to get a resurgence in the future. As new characters are announced and changes are made to the game’s system, Overwatch 2 may even climb up to that lofty 1 million concurrent viewer goal in the future.

About The Author

Philip is a Staff Writer at Dexerto based in Louisiana, with expertise in Pokemon, Apex Legends, and general gaming industry news. His first job in the games industry was as a reviewer with NintendoEverything.com while attending college. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication focusing on Multimedia Journalism, he worked with GameRant.com for nearly two years before joining Dexerto. When he's not writing he's usually tearing through some 80+ hour JRPG. You can contact him at philip.trahan@dexerto.com.