Overwatch 2's arrival on Steam has been anything but smooth. The hero-based shooter has rocketed to the ignominious distinction of becoming Steam's worst-rated game of all time, overthrowing War of the Three Kingdoms and Flatout. Its rapid descent began on August 10. A few days later, enough of the community had voiced its overwhelming dissatisfaction for Overwatch 2 to gain such infamy.
Overwatch 2, despite its rocky start, did manage to garner over 75,000 concurrent players soon after release. However, a staggering 91% of the game's reviews on Steam were negative, drawing fire for its monetization model and a perceived lack of community moderation.
Fans felt duped, calling it the "biggest cash grab of the 21st century" and even christening it "Overwatch 1.5" because of its resemblance to the original. As one player eloquently put it, Overwatch 2 seems more like an attempt "to pry open your wallet" than to provide a genuinely improved gaming experience.
Interestingly, a significant portion of the backlash to Overwatch 2 originated from Chinese players. The termination of Blizzard's agreement with NetEase, which led to the shutdown of Blizzard games in China earlier in January, resulted in Chinese players losing access to their accounts and the ability to play on a national server. The game's debut on Steam became an outlet for these frustrated fans to voice their opinions on an international platform. With a majority of the negative reviews in simplified Chinese, players also reported slow logins and poor connections.
