Overwatch 2’s launch on Steam immediately bombarded with negative user reviews

In a first for Blizzard, Overwatch 2 just made its debut on Steam. Though the historic move away from Battle.net hasn’t quite been met with a positive reception, as thousands have flooded the store listing with negative reviews.

With the launch of Season 6: Invasion, Blizzard sought to make some history with its popular hero shooter. While all Blizzard titles have previously been exclusive to Battle.net on PC, Overwatch 2 just made the jump to Steam, opening the floodgates for more franchises to follow down the line.

Yet while this move now lets more players access the free-to-play title on their launcher of choice, it hasn’t arrived without its controversy.

Mere hours after the August 10 arrival on Steam, Overwatch 2 already sits with a Mostly Negative label attached as a result of thousands of scathing user reviews.

Overwatch 2 is now available on Steam!https://t.co/DB5U0Vr5EA pic.twitter.com/0HNWdGpHfa

— Steam (@Steam) August 10, 2023

Overwatch 2 arrives on Steam to Mostly Negative user reviews

At the time of writing, Overwatch 2 currently maintains a Mostly Negative label, with 72% of all user reviews giving the game a thumbs down.

Obviously, as the game only just went live on Steam, it’s worth taking these early user reviews with a heaping serve of salt. After all, review-bombing has become somewhat of a trend in recent months. Everything from Final Fantasy XVI to Diablo 4 has suffered from similar public backlash this year alone.

Many of these negative Overwatch 2 reviews are simply adding to the pile with little to no meaningful criticism. “Overwatch 1 > Overwatch 2.” “Terrible.” And even links to Team Fortress 2’s store page on Steam litter the review section on launch day.

Meanwhile, others decided to rip into the recent PVE pivot, focusing their feedback on the lack of hero progression while charging “only $15” for the first batch of Story Missions. “Don’t support this predatory behavior,” one user said.

As is historically the case with review bombs like this, things could always balance out in the coming days as more players jump into Overwatch 2 on Steam. However, there’s always the change the negative user reviews continue to mount, leaving the overall ‘Mostly Negative’ label attached indefinitely.

We’ll be sure to keep you posted here as the situation evolves now that Blizzard has made its way over to Valve’s storefront for the very first time.