After launching on May 24 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, Blizzard's new team shooter Overwatch has now sold more than 7 million units.
The 7 million Overwatch players are said to have logged a combined total of 119 million hours of playing the game, a feat that is tagged by Blizzard as one of the all-time most successful global video game releases.
The number of players, as Blizzard clarified, is a unique global player count, and that includes gamers who have logged into the game using either its digital or retail version and those who played the title in internet game rooms.
In a press release, Blizzard co-founder and CEO Mike Morhaime expressed gratitude on behalf of the company for the enthusiasm and passion that gamers have shown for Overwatch.
"We're ecstatic to have had such a successful launch, and we're looking forward to all of the fun, competition, and new content still to come," Morhaime added.
Since Overwatch was launched, gamers have swapped their heroes a total of 326 million times, and have teamed up to deliver 11 million payloads to destinations across the game's battlefields.
The number of Overwatch players, however, has not yet reached the 9.7 million mark that was achieved by the game's open beta in the middle of May. The number of players for Overwatch's open beta set a new record, compared to the 6.4 million gamers for The Division and 4.6 million for Destiny.
With just over a week from its release, though, there will be plenty of time for Overwatch to reach and exceed that number of 9.7 million players. The shooter could perhaps even exceed the player base of Blizzard's World of Warcraft, which at its peak stood at 12 million gamers in 2010.
Overwatch's popularity is soaring, and one of the things that Blizzard is doing to maintain that momentum is cracking down on cheaters. True to its word that it would permanently ban players who are caught cheating, the company has already dropped a significant number of banhammers just a week after the game's launch.
