Overwatch now has 25 million players

Overwatch now has more than 25 million players, Blizzard Entertainment announced on Twitter. That’s up five million from October, when the publisher celebrated the game having 20 million players.

In the time it took Overwatch to gain 25 million players, the game saw a deluge of updates, achievements and new content. Among the highlights from the last few months of Overwatch:

• Long-awaited hacker hero Sombra finally arrived in November, as part of BlizzCon 2016;
• A pair of seasonal events, most recently a Chinese New Year-themed campaign, introduced some controversial and buggy new skins to the game;
• The game’s first LGBT hero was named;
• Dedicated fans launched a progressive movement, using an Overwatch character as their feminist mascot.

Overwatch also received numerous year-end accolades, including from Polygon. We named the game our third-favorite of 2016, writing, “It might seem intimidating at first because of its popularity and ever-growing pro community, but Overwatch is perhaps Blizzard’s most accessible online multiplayer game to date. There’s no level grinding, no upgrades for weapons, armor or even abilities. You only get one set of tools with each character — from there, it’s up to you how to master them.”

That’s what has kept the fanbase growing steadily over the last eight months or so. Overwatch launched back in May 2016, but it already feels like Blizzard Entertainment’s latest hit has been around for far, far longer.