Since its release last Tuesday, we’ve been struggling to tear ourselves away from Overwatch. With hero-based, objective-focused shooters on the rise, Blizzard has somehow managed to not only stand out from the pack, but break into a dead sprint ahead of it. In just a week and a half, the game has already attracted 7 million players.
“Over the months and weeks leading up to release we saw a lot of love and support for Overwatch — from Blizzard gamers, FPS fans, and people who’d never picked up a game before,” Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime said in the official release.
That last point is especially crucial to Overwatch’s ongoing success. Though practice and dedication will certainly see you earning “play of the game” more often than other players, the game is incredibly easy to pick up and play. Characters like Reaper and Bastion have a low learning curve that allows for even the newest fans to help their team while still offering an opportunity for higher-level play.
What’s perhaps even more interesting than the “7 million players” statistic, however, is the amount of time they’ve spent playing the game. Collectively, the Overwatch community has already racked up 119 million hours. That’s 17 hours per person, and more than an hour per person per day. And while “mains” have already become popular, players are still trying out new characters.
“Since launch, players have swapped heroes 326 million times,” Morhaime adds.
The scariest part of Overwatch‘s launch is just how much time the game has to breathe. With No Man’s Sky pushed back to August, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst serves as the game’s only real competition until well into the summer, and the latter game is targeting a fairly different demographic.
Overwatch is now available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
