The Overwatch 2 beta was released last week, and it was a pivot of the game’s original plan, which was to be a big release with both multiplayer and single-player content. However, Blizzard has decided that the multiplayer overhaul should be released sooner rather than later so that the game can resume receiving updates, and for a brief moment, it appeared that Overwatch would see a massive resurgence in popularity.

However, a week can make a big difference, and gamers have a short attention span if they aren’t kept entertained. With 1.5 million concurrent viewers on Twitch, Overwatch 2 shattered records, boosted partly by people wanting to see pretty much every big name streamer on the platform playing the game, while others were motivated by beta access drops that were going on during streams, so they could get in themselves, but that enthusiasm appears to have been short lived. Overwatch has lost 99 percent of its viewers in the week since the record was set.

Viewership has dropped from 1.5 million to 15,000 at the time of this writing. Given that most big streamers have returned to their usual fare, be it Fortnite, CSGO, Valorant, League of Legends, Apex Legends, Warzone, and so on, that puts it outside the top 20 most watched games on Twitch, and indicates that we are unlikely to see Overwatch regularly among the top games again.

I would expect these numbers to spike for actual esports events, but the idea is that despite the massive increase in interest, most viewers who were there either A) to watch big streamers play or B) to secure beta access for themselves did not seem to remember it.

The good news is that Overwatch can now resume its status as a game that is regularly updated with new characters, maps, and modes, as the development of Overwatch 2 effectively put the game on hold for years.

We don’t know when the promised sold-separately single-player content for Overwatch 2 will arrive, but the current situation appears to be what everyone was confused about: Overwatch 2 is just the world’s biggest multiplayer patch, as OW1 gameplay is now converting to OW2 gameplay.

Blizzard expects higher revenue this year, thanks in part to the release of Overwatch 2, as well as the release of Diablo Immortal this summer. At this rate, it appears that Immortal will be the one to carry the load, and I’m not sure what sustained interest in Overwatch 2 will look like if these early viewership drops are any indication of overall interest.

Maybe players prefer to play rather than watch, but after all those broken records a week ago, I doubt this is what you want to see.