Blizzard Admits Overwatch 2 Engagement Has Been Declining

Overwatch 2 players have not been as engaged with the game lately, Blizzard said this week in its latest financial report for the second quarter of 2023. Engagement and player investment, specifically, have been on the decline, but Blizzard is confident that the game's next big update will help turn things around. That update is Overwatch 2: Invasion, the sizable content drop that'll include another new support hero as well as some of the PvE content that players have been waiting on.

Blizzard's quarterly report talked about its biggest games right now including Diablo 4 and the ever present World of Warcraft with the engagement comment directed specifically to the Overwatch and Warcraft communities. For the former, that's where Blizzard noted a decline in engagement.

"Blizzard continued to engage the Overwatch and Warcraft communities with live operations in the second quarter. While engagement and player investment in Overwatch 2 declined sequentially in the quarter, the Overwatch team is looking forward to the August 10 release of Overwatch 2: Invasion," Activision Blizzard's quarterly report said. "This will be the largest seasonal update yet, planned to include new PVE Story Missions, a new game mode, and a new hero progression system as well as an additional hero."

Aside from the new hero which has been teased but not fully revealed just yet, the Invasion update will also include the Flashpoint game mode where players look to capture points around the map similar to a domination or headquarters game mode. A co-op mission will also be available alongside the PvE story missions.

However, those story missions that players have been looking forward to come with a price tag. If you want to play them either during the Invasion update or afterwards, you'll have to pay $15. That detail was revealed back when Blizzard spelled out the contents of the Overwatch 2: Invasion bundle and said it would include "Access to the Overwatch 2: Invasion Story Missions, during the season and permanently after." While not explicitly clear from that wording, Blizzard would later clarify that you have to buy the bundle (or the more expensive $40 "Ultimate" bundle) to access PvE.

Overwatch 2: Invasion is scheduled to release on August 10th.