The latest Overwatch update delivered a major overhaul, including a new name and five new heroes. For the first time in the game’s history, Blizzard introduced five heroes in a single update, with more planned in the coming months. These changes have positively contributed to the Overwatch player count, as it quickly surpassed Marvel Rivals.
The surge has pushed Blizzard’s shooter into the top 10 most-played games on Xbox. TrueAchievements reports a 99.99% spike in players checking Overwatch achievements following the overhaul announcement.
Overwatch has surpassed Marvel Rivals in less than a week
NetEase released Marvel Rivals in December 2024, attracting millions of players in a short period of time. The game developer has added many iconic comic book characters since then, and some of them have skyrocketed the player count, such as the Fantastic Four and Emma Frost. However, its biggest competitor, Overwatch, is now ready to reclaim its crown.
According to TrueAchievements, Overwatch saw a 39.4% increase in Xbox players in February 2026, making it one of the most popular games on the console. This marks Overwatch’s highest position on the weekly Xbox chart since 2024.
To put this into perspective, Overwatch 2 gained a 17.8% increase during its rebranding in August 2023.
Before the massive update, Overwatch was ranked 15th on Xbox weekly charts, while Marvel Rivals was four spots higher. However, since Season 1, the situation has shifted significantly, boosting Blizzard’s hero shooter to the ninth spot, while the competitor has gone down to number 13.
This is the first time that Overwatch has surpassed Marvel Rivals since NetEase’s hero shooter came out. Considering that the launch of Overwatch 2 was mostly met with frustration and confusion, Blizzard will likely aim to maintain this momentum throughout 2026. The Overwatch roadmap reveals lots of amazing content coming throughout the year, and each season could potentially spike the player count.
If you are one of the returning players, make sure to check the best Overwatch settings to improve performance. You can also unlock free Loot Boxes with Twitch Drops.
