Overwatch Reaches 40 Million Players Heading Into Second Anniversary
Overwatch continues to grow going into the game’s second anniversary event, hitting 40 million players recently according to game director Jeff Kaplan.
The event will see the return of a ton of older content, such as past seasonal brawls and special skins that have come out over the past two years. In a Developer Update video posted on Tuesday, Kaplan revealed some further details about the event and the 40-million-player milestone.
Overwatch reached 35 million players back in October 2017 and the continued growth is a very good sign for the game going into its third year of existence.
“This is a great opportunity for us, the Overwatch team, to celebrate you all and all the amazing things that you have done for the game and all the awesome content you have created for the game,” Kaplan said in the video. “So we have a lot of special stuff planned for this event.”
The Developer Update reviews a few details we already known about the Anniversary Event – the new Deathmatch map (Petra), a Deathmatch competitive queue, and 11 new skins. The Deathmatch competitive queue will take place on both the Chateau map and the new Petra map.
Select Overwatch brawls from previous seasonal events will also be coming back for a limited time, including Lucioball, Junkenstein’s Revenge, Mei’s Snowball Offensive, Overwatch Uprising and Retribution, and more. These brawls will be cycled each day in the Arcade.
Kaplan went on to give some further detail about the new Anniversary loot boxes.
“The brand new Anniversary loot box is incredibly special because not only will you get an Anniversary item, but there will be the opportunity to get any items from any seasonal event that’s ever happened before [in Overwatch],” Kaplan said. “Along with that, you’ll be able to unlock all of the seasonal items from all of the seasonal events that were unlockable during the Anniversary event.”
Kaplan also confirmed that the event will bring eight new legendary skins to some of the team’s personal favorite heroes. He did give a hint for fans that a “dapper-looking gentleman” was included on that list. Many have already guessed that this means we will get to see Doomfist in formal wear.
Overwatch is also getting a special “legendary” edition of the game for its two-year birthday. Though there aren’t many details on this new edition yet, Blizzard has said the digital package will launch on May 22, the same day the event starts.
The Overwatch Legendary Edition will offer a total of 15 Legendary, Epic and Origin skins with purchase. Blizzard released a similar package, Overwatch: Game of the Year Edition, last year for its first anniversary.
The Overwatch Anniversary event is scheduled to kick off on May 22 and will run until June 11. A free weekend is also planned from May 25 to 28 for new players to give the game a shot.