Overwatch's Wildly Successful Beta Attracted Almost 10 Million Players

If the beta serves as any indication, Blizzard looks to have another hit on its hands. The recently concluded beta for Overwatch saw more than 9.7 million players give the company's first-ever shooter a try.

That's a huge figure, and the biggest beta ever for a Blizzard game, according to the company. It combines the number of players across Xbox One, PS4, and PC during the open beta, meaning there could potentially be some duplicates in there as a result of people playing on multiple platforms.

Whatever the case, Blizzard says those players participated in more than 37 million matches, totaling over 81 million hours of playtime. The beta began on May 5 (May 3 for some) and, following an extension, ran until May 10.

For comparison, EA hosted its largest beta ever last year with Star Wars Battlefront, which saw more than 9 million players. More recently, The Division set what Ubisoft described as a record for a new IP with 6.4 million players giving its beta a try.

The beta was the final one for Overwatch, which launches on all platforms on May 24 for $40 (or $60 for the Origins Edition). In terms of content, the game at launch will consist solely of what was available during the beta, though there are plans for more to be added down the line.