I recently heard Overwatch called “Call of Duty for lesbians” and while this may be true to some extent obviously there’s more than just them playing it. Overwatch has been out for not quite a full year and it’s already made over $1 billion since its release. Activision Blizzard stated that Overwatch is still its fastest growing franchise and is now the 8th one to reach the billion dollar mark, including the aforementioned Call of Duty, along with Diablo and World of Warcraft. The game also has over 30 million players worldwide and is growing at a rate of about 2.2 million players, according to Polygon.
No doubt these numbers are helped by the Overwatch League, Blizzard’s esport organization for the game. Chief Executive Officer Bobby Kotick said the League is “gaining momentum and we’re excited to offer our community of players the best professional league experience.” President and Co-founder Michael Morhaime told Polygon the competition will kick off later on this year.
In addition to now being worth over a billion bucks, Overwatch is also a critical success for the company. It won Game of the Year awards from The Game Awards 2016, the 20th D.I.C.E Awards and the 17th Annual Game Developers Choice awards, as well as having positive reviews and high scores across the board.
