Blizzard Confirms Overwatch Just Had Its Best Weekend Player Count in a Year Across All Platforms, as Season 1 Officially Goes Live
The newly-rebranded Overwatch just benefited from its best weekend player count "in over a year" across all platforms, developer Blizzard has said, as the game's new Season 1 officially goes live today. Players have flocked back to Overwatch following last week's big Spotlight reveal event that confirmed the sequel was ditching its "2", adding a host of new heroes, and telling a fresh interconnected narrative over the next year. An early access launch for new hero Anran also helped draw players in, while the company has quickly addressed calls from fans and the game's English-language voice actress for tweaks to the character's design. As reported earlier this week, Overwatch had a particularly strong weekend on Steam — where the game recorded its best player count since launch. Last week's announcements continued with confirmation of an upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 port of the game, scheduled for release sometime within its new Season 2. Here's everything that's live today, alongside the launch of Season 1: Overwatch Season 1 — February 10 ● Five New Heroes at Launch: Jump in to experience five new heroes right now, with five more coming throughout 2026 (one per season). ○ Domina (Tank), a long-range, zone-control Stalwart Tank hero and vice president of the Vishkar Corporation. ○ Emre (Damage), a fast-paced, run-and-gun Specialist Damage hero with cybernetic upgrades. ○ Mizuki (Support), a versatile Survivor Support hero aligned with the Hashimoto clan. ○ Anran (Damage), a fire-wielding Flanker Damage hero, Overwatch recruit, and Wuyang’s older sister. ○ Jetpack Cat (Support), a permanently flying feline, acting as a Tactician Support hero with quick reflexes and Hero towing abilities ● The Reign of Talon: For the first time, Overwatch is telling a fully connected narrative across an entire year, following Talon’s rise under new leadership. Follow along on this new story with our latest cinematic, as well as ongoing motion comics, animated Hero trailers, short stories, and more. ● Conquest Meta Event: Conquest is a five-week faction-based event where players align with Overwatch or Talon, completing missions and earning rewards along the way. ● Gameplay, Competitive, and Systems Updates: Season 1 includes new role sub-roles and passives for all Heroes, a competitive year reset with rewards and rarity titles, Stadium updates, a full UI/UX refresh, and new systems like Praise. ● The Overwatch x Hello Kitty and Friends collaboration is available now, introducing colorful, Hello Kitty and Friends-inspired skins plus themed extras like name cards, sprays, emotes, and more. Available now through February 24, the crossover introduces skins for… ○ Juno as Hello Kitty ○ Widowmaker as Kuromi ○ Mercy as Pompompurrin ○ Lucio as Keroppi ○ D.Va as My Melody ○ Kiriko as Cinnamoroll ● Skins and Cosmetics: Season 1 includes faction-themed skins, new themed bundles, a Mercy Celestial Guardian Mythic, Juno’s Star Shooter Mythic Weapon, and a Lootbox pool refresh including skins from the past six seasons. After all that, Overwatch's new Season 2 will introduce a fresh hero, mythics and a celebration of the game's 10-year anniversary later this spring. Another hero joins in Season 3, due this summer, alongside the Japan Night map and more mythics. Later this summer, Season 4 drops yet another new hero and includes activity tied to BlizzCon and the Overwatch World Cup. Catch up with everything else announced last week at Blizzard's Overwatch Spotlight event right here. Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
The newly-rebranded Overwatch just benefited from its best weekend player count "in over a year" across all platforms, developer Blizzard has said, as the game's new Season 1 officially goes live today.Players have flocked back to Overwatch following last week's big Spotlight reveal event that confirmed the sequel was ditching its "2", adding a host of new heroes, and telling a fresh interconnected narrative over the next year.
An early access launch for new hero Anran also helped draw players in, while the company has quickly addressed calls from fans and the game's English-language voice actress for tweaks to the character's design.
As reported earlier this week, Overwatch had a particularly strong weekend on Steam — where the game recorded its best player count since launch. Last week's announcements continued with confirmation of an upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 port of the game, scheduled for release sometime within its new Season 2.
Here's everything that's live today, alongside the launch of Season 1:
Overwatch Season 1 — February 10
● Five New Heroes at Launch: Jump in to experience five new heroes right now, with five more coming throughout 2026 (one per season).○ Domina (Tank), a long-range, zone-control Stalwart Tank hero and vice president of the Vishkar Corporation.
○ Emre (Damage), a fast-paced, run-and-gun Specialist Damage hero with cybernetic upgrades.
○ Mizuki (Support), a versatile Survivor Support hero aligned with the Hashimoto clan.
○ Anran (Damage), a fire-wielding Flanker Damage hero, Overwatch recruit, and Wuyang’s older sister.
○ Jetpack Cat (Support), a permanently flying feline, acting as a Tactician Support hero with quick reflexes and Hero towing abilities
● The Reign of Talon: For the first time, Overwatch is telling a fully connected narrative across an entire year, following Talon’s rise under new leadership. Follow along on this new story with our latest cinematic, as well as ongoing motion comics, animated Hero trailers, short stories, and more.
● Conquest Meta Event: Conquest is a five-week faction-based event where players align with Overwatch or Talon, completing missions and earning rewards along the way.
● Gameplay, Competitive, and Systems Updates: Season 1 includes new role sub-roles and passives for all Heroes, a competitive year reset with rewards and rarity titles, Stadium updates, a full UI/UX refresh, and new systems like Praise.
● The Overwatch x Hello Kitty and Friends collaboration is available now, introducing colorful, Hello Kitty and Friends-inspired skins plus themed extras like name cards, sprays, emotes, and more. Available now through February 24, the crossover introduces skins for…
○ Juno as Hello Kitty
○ Widowmaker as Kuromi
○ Mercy as Pompompurrin
○ Lucio as Keroppi
○ D.Va as My Melody
○ Kiriko as Cinnamoroll
● Skins and Cosmetics: Season 1 includes faction-themed skins, new themed bundles, a Mercy Celestial Guardian Mythic, Juno’s Star Shooter Mythic Weapon, and a Lootbox pool refresh including skins from the past six seasons.
After all that, Overwatch's new Season 2 will introduce a fresh hero, mythics and a celebration of the game's 10-year anniversary later this spring. Another hero joins in Season 3, due this summer, alongside the Japan Night map and more mythics. Later this summer, Season 4 drops yet another new hero and includes activity tied to BlizzCon and the Overwatch World Cup.
Catch up with everything else announced last week at Blizzard's Overwatch Spotlight event right here.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
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