Overwatch knows a thing or two about a decline in player count. After many questionable and unpopular choices with Overwatch 2 (now just Overwatch), gamers were calling it a “dead game” as the masses fled to Marvel Rivals. In a shocking twist, Overwatch has reinvented itself and seen a massive boost in players as a result.
Overwatch Senior Designer Dylan Snyder recently commented on the trend of tracking a game’s Steam player count via services like SteamDB. On X, he stated: “Feel free to dislike and pass up any game you want, more power to you, but this is big unemployed, maidenless behavior…”
However, the game currently being closely monitored right now is not Overwatch, but Marathon. This is Bungie’s extraction shooter, which has had a pretty rough up-and-down process ahead of its launch. After a massive update following negative feedback during an early Alpha, gamers were pretty hopeful and flocked to the free Server Slam ahead of launch.
But many didn’t enjoy the game due to its confusing UX, visuals, and gameplay. Following the end of the Server Slam, gamers were already discussing the decline in players. Which, you know, is bound to happen after a Server Slam ends and there’s no access to the game unless you’re a dev. When the game came out, gamers were already closely following its player count obsessively, basically creating a sort of countdown to its death as player count declined.
The same thing happened to Highguard. Across X, players constantly discussed the game’s 90,000-plus peak upon launch, then reported whenever the count went down. It was sort of like watching an animal die, cheering and pointing every time it was one step closer to shutting down. When it reached under 200 players, everyone predicted its demise.
But did Highguard fully suck? Or did watching its player count create a sense of doom that built up as the numbers continued to decline? Did gamers sort of will it to be so? It feels like that played a part in it, and it may be happening again with Marathon. Why would people play if they see it’s a “dead game” or “doomed to fail?” It sort of creates a cycle of decline.
Are SteamDB numbers even accurate?
I think SteamDB gives us a pretty general sense of a game’s player count, especially on PC. I doubt it’s fully accurate, but it does tell part of the story. It’s not like a game can go from 90,000 or so players to 190 and still thrive.
However, Snyder replied to someone saying they were “sick” of SteamDB numbers being thrown around: “You’re telling me. As someone who knows actual OW player numbers, I tend to just laugh about SteamDB being used as a mic drop.”
In response, some wondered why Blizzard never shared Overwatch’s “true” player count at the time. The true “mic drop” would be seeing a higher player count than what’s told on SteamDB. However, it’s possible that Blizzard doesn’t want players to rely solely on player count, which can be misleading. There is also sales, player retention, and new player acquisition if you want to truly know a game’s success.
And again, this does make me wonder whether gamers are too fixated on a single statistic. I can agree with Snyder on that one. I think calling Overwatch a “dead game” because there are fewer players than a couple of years ago is a massive exaggeration, yet this rhetoric can lead gamers to leave a game if they believe it’s a lost cause.
Overwatch, Apex Legends, and the like are not dying. They’re actually doing alright as far as a competitive title is concerned. Of course, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is probably doing better. But that doesn’t mean every other shooter is dead.
Marathon, however, is facing an uphill battle. This new trend of watching games lose players has not seemed to go well for the targeted games. I think people should stop staring so closely at the numbers, as quick as it may be to check it out, and just focus on the game itself. Are you having fun? Is it fun to watch? Just enjoy it or move on.
For what it’s worth, Overwatch is currently at about 78,000 players. It has remained pretty steady, even if it’s not the highest count in the world. Just don’t look at Apex Legends, PUBG, or Counter-Strike 2 and everything seems fine.