Drops in Overwatch 2 and Warzone 2 player counts

It’s been a rough couple of months for Activision Blizzard, as things haven’t been going quite as well as expected lately. While the UK vetoed the Microsoft deal yesterday, the number of players in Overwatch 2 and Warzone 2 has been bad for a long time.

The release of Warzone 2 and Overwatch 2 helped Activision Blizzard hit new highs in player count late last year, but this year’s first-quarter financial results may have shown that it was just a flash in the pan for the gaming company. Whether the success of the two games can withstand in the long term is questionable.

Crisis due to bad player numbers

According to the company’s latest financial reports released yesterday, both games, Overwatch 2 and Warzone 2, which are sequels to 2010 titles, have lost a large chunk of their player base since the release of both sequels. Activision lost 13 million players compared to last quarter, while Blizzard’s total player count dropped by 18 million. The reasons for this are not entirely clear.

Last year, Activision had two million more monthly players at this point. The sequel to the popular Warzone became Activision’s flagship title and launched late last year.

As soon as Warzone 2 was on the shelves, the number of players shot up by 14 million monthly users and reached an average of 111 million. However, the end of the first quarter of this year proved that the hype surrounding the new game couldn’t last forever and leveled off sooner than expected as Activision suffered a devastating loss and almost matched the numbers of the previous quarter before Warzone’s release 2. A major disappointment for the company.

At the end of last year, Blizzard had 45 million monthly users, and by the end of the first quarter of 2023, the number had dropped to 27 million.

Activision in crisis?

Though Modern Warfare 2 topped Vanguard’s sales, the sudden drop in player count and hype could be a worrying revelation for Activision Blizzard bosses.