Overwatch, Blizzard's first-person shooter game, has come a long way in the year and a half since its release. Originally birthed from a failed Blizzard title, Overwatch has expanded into a continuously growing game and a blossoming esports franchise.





Super Data's annual ​Digital Games and Interactive Media in Review took a look at Overwatch's 2017 statistics, showing how the game has amassed incredible financial success.

Overwatch ranked second among all Premium PC games (not free to play) in revenue, making an estimated $382 million. It beat games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Blizzard's other highly anticipated game, Destiny 2. Although it was beaten out by PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BALLTEGROUNDS, Overwatch's popularity has increased considerably in the past year.

Overwatch's impact in esports also became prominent last year. The game made its official mark with the introduction of the Overwatch League, which has ​continued to do well since the season began. Overwatch ranked fifth in esports viewers in 2017 with an average of 63 million unique monthly viewers. League of Legends was first at 157 million.





SuperData noted that Overwatch had noticeably contributed to total esports revenue.





" Popular titles like League of Legends and Overwatch helped esports attract a sizable audience of 258M unique viewers," the report reads.





Esports genre generated a total of $756 million in revenue, according to the report, and it is expected to become a billion dollar business this year.

Overwatch are doing everything right, kinda jealous but glad esports is succeeding — Splyce Bance (@Bance) January 26, 2018

Interestingly enough, Overwatch has also become the first esports franchise in the United States. Many other esports have teams within the United States, but Super Data emphasized the introduction of city-specific teams is the first for esports in the country. Nine out of the current 12 city-based professional Overwatch teams are centered around American cities, though even the American teams have plenty of ​non-American players.

Week 4 of the #OWL2018 Season starts this Wednesday at 4PM PST!



Watch it here: https://t.co/U6dIipgQGs pic.twitter.com/qbsE6p5Wx3 — Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) January 29, 2018

The Overwatch League, which began its first season earlier this month, continues its first season with Week 4 on Wednesday. Season 1 will last into June, with an all-star weekend following in July.

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Cover photo courtesy of Blizzard. ​Graphs courtesy of Super Data