According to my Xbox One, as of this moment I have played Blizzard’s 2016 team-based first person shooter Overwatch for 32 days, 13 hours, and six minutes. That’s over 781 hours, during which I have climbed to level 428. My win rate is 48.8%. While games both better and worse have come and gone, Overwatch was to me the definitive game of the eighth console generation.
Overwatch was my second-most played game on stream in 2020, with 48 hours streamed - snugly fit between Final Fantasy XIII at 53 hours and Disco Elysium at 45 hours. In 2021, I had deliberately chosen not to play it on stream, mainly because I didn’t think there was much entertainment value in watching me play not particularly well, though I have continued to play it every couple months. Mostly, I aim to complete my 25 placement matches across both of the game’s competitive queues, and whenever a new seasonal or cosmetic event comes around I will play Mystery Heroes until I’ve satisfied the requirements to obtain something I know I’ll never use.
I’ll be the first to admit that my continued relationship with Overwatch runs counter to some of my generally-held opinions. There’s a strong argument to be made that it is at least somewhat responsible for the exploitative capitalism of lootboxes and microtransactions in games over the last half-decade. Games aren’t meant to last forever, and yet even five years and six months after its initial release you can still get into a match fairly quickly. While not as predatory in demanding player’s time as some of Blizzard’s other titles, or really any game with a form of daily quest system, limited-time events and cosmetics create anxiety and a fear of missing out.
Overwatch is also not the same game it was when it released, in ways both good and bad. The good is that there have been a substantive amount of new characters (11) and maps (18) released for free over the game’s lifetime, as well as various game modes (though some of which are tied to the aforementioned limited-time events).
The overarching bad is that seemingly from the day the game released, Blizzard has been unsure of how to balance Overwatch. A lot of the game’s early fun stemmed from the fact that there was no “right” way to play, and if you wanted to run a team of six Winstons, you were free to do so. Over the years, though, there have been more and more restrictions introduced to attempt to balance the game.
The first change, being unable to run two of the same character in competitive, was fairly benign, though this inexplicably also ended up being applied to quick play. In order to shift the game’s competitive meta away from the infamous GOATS team composition (three tanks, three supports), fixed team compositions of two tanks, two DPS characters, and two supports was introduced in July 2019. Strangely, the company would later relent and create a separate competitive queue without such limits.
The reason you can still get into a match so quickly is that earlier this year, Blizzard introduced crossplay by default, meaning that the console and PC players are all part of the same matchmaking pool. This also means that console players are now party to the in-game chat, though writing a message in reply on a controller is an unwieldy and baffling experience.
In spite of all of these changes, Overwatch itself is no better or worse than it ever was. While characters have gotten buffed, nerfed, additional abilities or even entire reworks, the core gameplay is still satisfying and thrilling. There’s something comforting about being able to load in, pick Zarya or Lucio or Soldier: 76, and play a match that’s mechanically like the thousand matches you’ve played before.
It’s to Overwatch’s credit that it’s managed to remain engaging after all this time, character abilities giving it a strategic depth that most other shooters can’t match. In spite of this, I find myself having the most fun when things are frenetic and chaotic, with multiple ultimate abilities going off at once. It is rare that a game, especially a team-based multiplayer game with a high skill ceiling, can so utterly and effortlessly make you feel like a badass for playing well, and wiping the other team with a few well-timed abilities will never stop being enjoyable.
Even though I’ve spent almost a sixth of my life playing this game, learning its characters and their abilities, I am not at all interested in Overwatch 2. Perhaps in an effort to balance the game in a more permanent way, teams will be 5v5, a change from the 6v6 we’ve gotten used to playing. Character abilities have been altered to compensate for the lack of an extra player, but given my favourite part of the game has been its gleeful insanity, slowing things down doesn’t seem particularly appealing.
While it has no bearing on either my continued enjoyment of Overwatch - a game I paid $70 for on May 24th, 2016 - nor my decision to be disinterested in its sequel, I’d frankly be remiss if I failed to mention not only the negative influence that Activision’s desire to maximize profits have had on Blizzard during Overwatch’s lifespan, but that Blizzard’s hands are not clean either, having fostered sexual harassment and discrimination in their workplace for at minimum the better part of the last decade.
About a year after Overwatch’s launch, on May 10th, 2017, I was particularly despondent about my situation at the time and so, naturally, wrote an email asking for career advice to now-former Blizzard Vice President and Overwatch Lead Designer Jeff Kaplan. To my legitimate surprise, this man who was responsible for one of the most successful and some would argue greatest video games of all time sent me a nuanced and thoughtful reply. He was gracious and vulnerable, and if there is one piece of digital detritus I never lose I sincerely hope it is his message.
Overwatch’s “Recall” animated short, released almost two months before the game on March 23rd, 2016, features the following dialogue:
“Always remember: never accept the world as it appears to be. Dare to see it for what it could be.”
We can’t undo what’s already been done, but once justice is served, we can stop it from happening again. Even in the darkness of a pandemic that has been the most difficult time of our collective lives, we still need to believe in a brighter tomorrow.
Are there any games you’ve played for far longer than you intended? Let me know! You can always find me on Twitch.