In 2016, " Overwatch " (hereinafter referred to as "OW") was officially released. Many players paid for it without thinking because of the reputation that " is produced by Blizzard and must be a high-quality product." At that time, OW was indeed fascinating. It won the best game of the year on the three major platforms of TGA, DICE, and GDC in one fell swoop. Xiao Lei was addicted to "sucking butt" for a long time.
It’s a pity that Blizzard’s operation is really poor. OW’s popularity did not last long, and the number of people discussing it dropped significantly in less than two years. Now, "Overwatch 2" is coming, and it will open early access on October 5. Blizzard has changed its past rules and changed from paid to free to play, but the additional PVE mode may require charges.
Source: Game screenshots
The once smash hit OW has launched its sequel OW2. Can it be recognized by consumers and revive the glory of "Overwatch"?
"Overwatch 2", the mechanism is as follows
OW2 has entered the testing stage. Judging from the exposed information, the game has changed from the 6V6 mode of the first generation to a 5V5 mode, removing a tank position. This has a great impact on the game. OW2 is not a traditional FPS game. Most tank positions have a short attack range, but the damage is not as high as that of the output position, and the damage-bearing ability is strong. Therefore, OW once had a lineup of 3 tanks + 3 nannies.
As we all know, free games are the most expensive games. Although OW2 can be played for free, it is only in PVP mode. If you want to play the PVE story mode, you still need to top up money. It is expected that Blizzard will launch the first PVE story of OW2 in 2023. . Fortunately, OW2 retains the creative workshop function, so players can design their own gameplay. As a casual OW player, when the battle carnival mode is not turned on, Xiao Lei likes to go to the creative workshop to play the CD-less mode he has set.
Source: Game screenshot
If OW2 wants to become popular and have lasting popularity, Blizzard must realize why OW's popularity has declined so quickly. The biggest problem with OW is the update speed, which makes the game less playable. When the LOL official website was first launched, there were 40 heroes. Subsequently, an average of about 10 new heroes were born every year (mainly concentrated in the early stages of the game's launch, and the number of new heroes decreased in the later stages). Today, there are 160 heroes.
These heroes provide LOL with a wealth of gameplay, coupled with major gameplay updates about every two years, keeping the game alive, and it is still the most popular online game in the world. "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds", "Overwatch", "Heroes of the Storm" and other games that challenge the status of LOL have all fallen in front of LOL one by one.
Overwatch has only 32 heroes so far, and the gameplay is inherently limited. What is even more unbearable for players is that because there is a lineup of 3 tanks + 3 nannies in the game, the official has forced all modes to have 2 tanks + 2 output + 2 nannies. If you want to play the C position, you have to wait for several minutes to play fast. It was at that time that Xiao Lei completely gave up the game of OW. Although OW later launched the classic fast mode that does not require pre-selected positions, Xiao Lei is no longer willing to play again. learn.
Source: Game screenshots
These two points are the main reasons for the decline of OW. There are many secondary reasons, such as the convenience of communication, but it is also convenient for players to spray each other. If you text each other, you may be banned, but if you text each other, it will be difficult for the authorities to control it. Coupled with the buyout system, it is difficult to maintain OW's subsequent revenue. The official has no motivation to update, and the decline of the game is natural.
So the question is, can OW2 revive the glory of this IP and let old players return to Lijiang Tower , Route 76, Gibraltar ?
OW2, is it already cold before it goes online?
Although he was very reluctant, Xiao Lei had to publish the "obituary" of OW2 to everyone. OW2 has not yet been officially launched, but it has entered the B beta stage. There are many anchors on the overseas live broadcast platform Twitch live broadcasting the game.When the live broadcast of the game was first launched, the popularity was as high as 1.5 million, which made many domestic netizens look forward to it. Unexpectedly, one week after the launch, the popularity of the OW2 live broadcast section was less than 6,000.
So what are the problems with OW2? First of all, the problem of single and boring gameplay has not been solved. The number of heroes is too few and the update speed is slow. In addition, the mandatory 1 tank + 2 output + 2 nanny is too restrictive for players. There are 5 positions in LOL. Some heroes can take almost any path they want. There are various ways to play. Take the classic hero , wrist hero , as an example. Those who have been chipped can no longer hit the road, so players can take them. If he plays in the middle and is weakened, then go to the jungle. If he is still weakened, then go to support. You can even cooperate with Senna and play as an AD hero.
Picture source; Blizzard official website screenshot
Look at OW2, Blizzard still follows the old tradition and must teach you how to play the game. The routine you develop yourself is definitely wrong. Xiao Lei has been playing Hearthstone for 7 years and hates Blizzard designers to the core. He has grown from a Blizzard white guy who recommended Blizzard games everywhere to a Blizzard black guy.
After communicating with netizens who have played OW2 in Tieba, they said an important reason for the decline in popularity of OW2, that is, the viewing quality is too poor. The tempo of OW is relatively slow, but OW2 speeds up the tempo significantly. In addition, the battlefield is fragmented, and the enjoyment plummets.
In addition, OW2 failed to get rid of the problem of too serious teamwork. In LOL, one person can drive the whole team when he develops. CS GO has high skills and can also carry, but OW cannot, and neither can OW2. This game requires too much teamwork and overall strength. Once one teammate is out of touch, it will be difficult for other teammates to win.
Due to various factors, the popularity of OW2 has dropped by more than 90% before it was officially launched. For Blizzard, this situation is very fatal. However, there are also some optimistic players who believe that OW2 is still in the testing phase and there are still four months to go. There will definitely be many changes by then. Coupled with the change from a buyout system to a free system, it will definitely attract many players.
Xiaolei believes that these players are too optimistic. Quality is the most important factor in whether a client game will become popular. Free is just an extra to attract players early. If you want to stay popular for a long time, relying on free services will definitely not work.
Free, not the panacea of OW2
It is undeniable that online games with high global revenue are basically free + in-app purchase system, but free is not a panacea. For a game like OW2 that is easy to communicate, it may be a hidden danger.
Every FPS game is indispensable for one thing, and that is plug-ins. Although OW is not a traditional FPS game, there are still a lot of cheats, which greatly affects the experience of ordinary players. The buyout system is one of the important measures to reduce cheating players. Once cheating is detected, the account will be directly banned, which will undoubtedly increase the cost of cheating.
Many players are worried that after changing to a free system, cheat players will become more unscrupulous. This point can be referred to "CS: GO". After it became free on December 7, 2018, 600,000 appearance players were banned by VAC that month, and the cumulative number of bans in the previous five months could reach 600,000.
Source: Steam store page
In addition, some players are worried that the free system will introduce too many low-age and low-quality players. The communication between OW and OW2 is very convenient. Too many low-quality players may lead to the deterioration of the game environment. These two concerns of
players are not unreasonable. Both of these situations may lead to a decline in the experience of normal game players, but for Blizzard, there are not many options. OW is very disappointing to the players. If OW2 is still a buyout system, non-die-hard Blizzard fans like Xiao Lei will definitely be on the sidelines in the early stage, waiting for the feedback from the first wave of players. There are few players in the early stage, and it is difficult to attract too many players to make impulse purchases, so Blizzard will be slower to recover costs.
Considering the cost and profit, it is normal for Blizzard to make the game free + in-app purchase model. For those who want game quality and experience, we should place our hopes on Microsoft . Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard is almost a foregone conclusion. Microsoft has a big business and plenty of money. With Microsoft's help, Blizzard does not have to rush to recover costs and can have enough time to polish the game.
Source: pixabay
There are still about 4 months until OW2 is launched. Some netizens who have experienced the game praised that OW2 is more fun than OW, and its fast pace is more suitable for today's gamers. Some time ago, Microsoft confirmed that OW2 will be the first to land on Xbox. It seems that the cooperation between the two companies is very deep. With Microsoft's help, Xiao Lei can finally gain some confidence in the quality of this game after it is launched.
