Overwatch has more than 20 million players

Blizzard announced today that Overwatch crossed a new player milestone recently: More 20 million players have registered accounts for the hero-based shooter.

While it’s not clear how many of those 20 million players have completely ignored escorting the payload for the entirety of a match or refused to step on the capture point during overtime even though it’s right there like 1 foot in front of them, I mean, come on, guys, it’s a long way from where Overwatch started.

Overwatch racked up nearly 10 million players during its open beta earlier this year. When the game launched on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One in May, Blizzard touted some 7 million players had played the game’s retail release in its debut week. Blizzard, at the time, said that figure represented the "unique global player count, which includes anyone who's played the digital or retail version of the game, as well as those who have played the game in Internet game rooms."

In August, Blizzard boasted that Overwatch’s player count had passed 15 million.

That 20 million player figure doesn’t necessarily equate to copies sold, as Overwatch, like other Blizzard games, is playable in internet cafes and some users may have registered for multiple accounts — possibly after losing their original one.

Overwatch still has some catching up to do to reach the player base of some of Blizzard's other games. Hearthstone, for example, has racked up more than 50 million players, Blizzard announced in June.

Blizzard launched a new Halloween-themed event for Overwatch today. The company also has new heroes, new maps and more in the works.