Overwatch 2 makes eSports World Cup roster despite a massive drop in player numbers
Hero shooter Overwatch 2 has been named on this year’s roster of titles for the Esports World Cup 2025. It marks the second consecutive year Blizzard Entertainment’s title will feature, despite the game losing significant player numbers to competitor title Marvel Rivals over the past few weeks.
The 2025 tournament, which will also see players compete in games of EAFC 25, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Free Fire, kicks off in Riyadh Boulevard City throughout the summer.
The rise and fall of Overwatch 2
Overwatch 2 launched in 2022 as a successor to the genre-defining Overwatch. Rather than the standard team shooters, the hero shooter gives different player characters different powers, strengths, and weaknesses. The free-to-play title racked up 25 million players within 10 days of its launch and went on to enjoy extended success.
Despite its early success, Overwatch 2 has come up against stiff competition in recent weeks. Ever since the launch of Marvel Rivals, at the beginning of December. Marvel Rivals is a free-to-play title, that includes a playable roster of more than 30 Marvel characters, and it is a hero shooter, although Netease refers to it as a superhero team shooter.
The appeal of playing as the likes of Wolverine and Black Widow has proven a huge draw for the title. It managed to attract 10 million players in just 72 hours of launch.
If figures are anything to go by, Rivals is taking those players directly from Overwatch 2’s player base. According to SteamDB, its player numbers have been steadily decreasing since the middle of November when it had a peak player count of more than 56,000. Currently, its peak rate is around 34,000 players.
Steam DB does only monitor plays on Steam, and Overwatch 2 is available on a host of platforms, but similar drops are likely to have been seen on other platforms too.
The Esports World Cup 2025
Blizzard will be hoping the game’s inclusion in the Esports World Cup 2025 will help lift figures. However, the tournament itself isn’t without controversy. Developed as a replacement for the Gamers8 tournament, starting in 2024, the event has been marred by accusations of sportswashing, being played in Riyadh.
Critics have pointed to Saudi Arabia’s human rights record and, in particular, the country’s treatment of the LGBTQ+ community. Team Liquid, one of the biggest teams to compete in the tournament wore rainbow jerseys and pledged a donation of $50,000 to the charity Rainbow Railroad for their participation in the event.
This year’s World Cup titles are very similar to last year’s. Black Ops 6 will replace Modern Warfare III and EAFC25 will replace EAFC24, but featured games include a lot of the usual Esports suspects: Rocket League, DOTA 2, Apex Legends, and Counter-Strike 2. Mobile games to feature include Pubg Mobile and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
Last year’s club championship was won by Team Falcons, who took home $7 million in prize money. This year’s competition has a total prize pool of more than $60 million, which is a record for the event under either of its iterations. Last year, Overwatch 2 had a total prize pool of $1 million with eventual winners, Crazy Raccoon taking the jackpot of $400,000. Full competitor lists should start being announced by the end of February ready for summer coverage.
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