The global gaming industry continues breaking records, with revenues and the number of users reaching all-time highs. However, the competition in the market is also stronger than ever, causing difficulties for some game developers in keeping their fan base. One of them is Blizzard Entertainment, whose user base dropped significantly over the past few years.
According to data presented by Mejores Apuestas, Blizzard Entertainment has lost 12 million active players since 2018, with its global fan base falling to 26 million players in the second quarter of 2021.
The Number of Players Halved Since 2017
Blizzard Entertainment’s gaming titles have drawn tens of millions of gamers over the years. One of its biggest hits is the Warcraft franchise which includes MMORPG classic World of Warcraft. Other major titles include the equally long-running Diablo dungeon crawler series, SF title StarCraft and multiplayer first-person shooter Overwatch series.
However, the average monthly user base of the US game developer has fallen significantly over the past four years. In 2017, 46 million people worldwide accessed Blizzard Entertainment gaming titles. By the end of the next year, this figure plunged to 35 million and continued falling.
After floating around 32 million during 2019 and in the first months of 2020, the number of active users dropped to 30 million in the third quarter of last year. Although the number of gamers continued booming by the end of 2020, driven by the COVID-19 and lockdown measures, Blizzard Entertainment lost another million users, with the total number falling to 29 million in the last quarter of the year.
Since then, the game developer lost another 3 million monthly active players, with its fan base falling to 26 million users in the second quarter of 2021. Statistics show the total number of monthly active players has almost halved since 2017.
Although there is no clear reason why there has been such a massive drop in this period, some fans believe it’s down to Blizzard’s lack of support for games like Overwatch, fuelled by rumors that its sequel, Overwatch 2, may not launch until 2023.
Overwatch Lost Three Quarters of Viewers on Twitch
As the world’s leading community for gamers, Twitch is one of the most popular ways for them to watch their favorite gaming titles. However, the viewer count on the streaming platform also shows the latest trends and the popularity of the world’s top video games.
As Blizzard Entertainment’s best-selling game, Overwatch ranked as the seventh most popular game on Twitch, with 7.6 billion all-time views. However, statistics show the popular first-person shooter has lost three-quarters of viewers on Twitch in the last two years.
In August 2019, Overwatch had more than 47 million active viewers who watched over 35 million hours on the live streaming platform. Statistics show these figures dropped to 12.1 million viewers and less than 9 million hours watched last month.
