Overwatch 2 Season 17 has skilled a rocky begin, as concurrent participant peaks have declined to their lowest level because the recreation launched on Steam again in August 2023.
In response to SteamDB, Overwatch 2 dropped to a concurrent participant peak of 24,414 on July twenty eighth, 2025, a far cry from its all-time peak of over 75,000.
Why Has OW2 Season 17 Struggled So A lot?
Season 17 hasn’t made the identical splash as earlier seasons on Steam. In response to SteamDB, Season 16’s launch noticed a peak of 60,127 gamers on April twenty first, and Season 15 noticed a peak of 59,332 gamers. Upon Season 17’s launch on June twenty third, it solely attracted a peak of 37,362 customers.
There are a number of explanation why these seasons have been so widespread, and it additionally could level to why Season 17 has fallen behind. Season 15 launched the Hero Perk system, which allowed gamers to improve characters as they performed, alongside the launch of the brand new hero Freja. Then, Season 16 launched the Stadium mode, the place gamers can create builds for distinctive gameplay kinds.
Season 17 launched with no standout characteristic, probably making it much less engaging to gamers. While it did usher in adjustments akin to map voting, it hasn’t shaken up the sport to the extent of earlier seasons, maybe leading to some gamers feeling much less incentivised to return this season.
The Present State of the Overwatch 2 Meta
Some harm characters, akin to Freja and the just lately buffed Tracer, can output giant quantities of injury with little or no counter-play. One of the best help characters, at present Lucio and Kiriko, usually boast nice mobility and survivability. One of the best tanks within the recreation, notably Zarya and Ramattra, even make matches unplayable with no ban.
The sport additionally has its justifiable share of irritating heroes to play in opposition to that take up a ban slot throughout aggressive matches. A number of the most banned heroes embody Sombra, Zarya and Doomfist, who was just lately disabled resulting from an overpowered bug.
Can Overwatch 2’s Participant Depend Get better?
Season 17 is in a tricky spot for now and solely time will inform if it’ll proceed to say no or enhance. This may increasingly change as we enter the Mid-Season, with the discharge of latest options akin to map reworks, aggressive drives and the hero trials for Season 18’s hero, Wuyang.
Whereas the Steam inhabitants will not be in the perfect state, it’s necessary to notice that it doesn’t symbolize the entire well being of the sport. There are numerous devoted gamers on the sport’s different PC launcher, Battle.web, alongside a sizeable variety of gamers on console.
Curiosity in Overwatch 2 has dropped to an all-time low in the intervening time, however the recreation’s esports scene has reached a pivotal level that has excited followers. The Overwatch Champions Sequence (OWCS) concludes Stage 2 and all eyes are set on the Mid-Season Championship within the Esports World Cup.
