Overwatch crossed a major milestone this week: Blizzard’s hero shooter has gone from “Mostly Negative” (39% or fewer positive reviews) on Steam to “Mixed,” based on user reviews. Cue the confetti and dance emotes.
From the moment it came to Steam in August 2023, Overwatch (then titled Overwatch 2) has been bombarded with a massive amount of hate. Only 10% of Steam users left a positive review during Overwatch 2‘s launch month, making it the worst-rated game on the platform. It’s now made it all the way up to the 20th worst-rated, according to Steam 250’s Hall of Shame Ranking.
At first, much of the backlash against Overwatch 2 focused on the specific changes Blizzard’s “sequel” made compared to the previous game, such as breaking up longstanding squads by reducing team sizes from six players to five. On top of this, with a switch to free-to-play monetization, Blizzard announced that new characters would need to be purchased or acquired through the Battle Pass (it eventually backtracked on this decision in 2024).
Perhaps the worst part was that, despite contentious balance changes and other fundamental alterations, the new version of Overwatch replaced the old one wholesale. As with many live-service games, the original Overwatch no longer exists, although Blizzard did eventually remove the 2 from the new version’s title.
Another problem was what the update didn’t do: The game’s 2.0 release was originally supposed to have a significant PvE component, but after releasing a handful of underwhelming missions, this was shelved due to development issues. Beyond this, many players found the game’s other changes too underwhelming to warrant labeling it a sequel.
Since then, Blizzard has improved its reputation with players. Seemingly in response to Marvel Rivals, Overwatch‘s biggest hero shooter competitor, Blizzard has released new characters at a far more consistent pace. It dropped five new heroes in February, with a total of 10 planned for 2026.
Overwatch’s new heroes released in 2026
“I don’t really get all the hate,” one Steam user wrote. “The new characters are fun with interesting kits, the battle pass is good value, there’s a lot of chances to get loot boxes which means free cosmetics, the paid cosmetics have been really good; and overall the game has a lot to offer everyone from Currency Whales to F2P players.”
“I think this game deserves interest and attention,” another review said. “It gave me a breath of fresh air after many years of playing TF2. Even after sweaty 4–5 hour sessions, I still feel happy to return to it.”
Still, the game continues to have many detractors, as its 40% approval on Steam implies. A big problem is that players take issue with the game’s expensive microtransactions: Blizzard routinely sells hero skins that cost more than some indie games. A recent bundle costs 9,900 Overwatch Coins, and a 10,000 Coin bundle costs $99.99. “Greedy trash company, now charging $100 for a bundle, bonkers even $60 is unreasonable,” a review complained.
Others call out Overwatch‘s notoriously toxic player base and how the game is designed in a way that leads to teammates butting heads rather than working together. “this is the worst game i’ve ever played in my life,” declared a player with over 200 hours. “i hate you tracer. i hate you sombra. i hate you doomfist. i hate my ana that had 11k less healing than me. i hate junkrat. i hate reaper. i hate every single character in this disgusting evil game. and yet i will return everytime. evil. this is evil.”
Still, Overwatch seems to be moving in the right direction. At this rate, perhaps it will reach “Mostly Positive” on Steam by 2030.
