Ever since Overwatch was launched in May 2016, the development team behind the massively popular multiplayer shooter has rolled out a total of 119 patches for the game.
While patches are mostly associated with bugs and glitches that need to be fixed in game, the updates that Blizzard has released for Overwatch has kept players hooked to the shooter, and have been part of what makes the game so good.
Blizzard's 119 'Overwatch' Patches
The number of patches that have been rolled out to Overwatch came from Blizzard itself after PC Gamer requested for the information.
Among the 119 Overwatch patches, there have been 14 major patches and 39 client patches. There were only three rulesets available to the game's Brawl and Arcade modes upon launch, namely Quick Play, Play vs. AI, and the weekly brawl, but that number has since ballooned to 37 through updates.
The Overwatch patches have also increased the number of items that players can acquire from loot boxes to 2,203, from only 1,248 originally.
How Did These Patches Help 'Overwatch'?
Patches are generally frowned upon by the video game community because they are mostly fixes to various issues, ranging from minimal ones to game-breaking problems. Among the high profile patches released recently include the fixes for the horrible Mass Effect: Andromeda facial animations and the addition of an alternate version for the much maligned Final Fantasy XV Chapter 13.
While Overwatch has had its fair share of patches to fix problems such as character balancing issues, the rapid pace of updates has kept players very interested in the shooter. The development team has not only been able to follow the pulse of the community to address reported issues and make highly requested changes, but has also kept Overwatch fresh with successive announcements on what will come next for the game.
Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan has also consistently reported on new developments for the game, while also taking time to answer questions on various social media platforms.
All in all, the patches that Blizzard has released for the multiplayer shooter, along with the transparency of the development team, has kept players both invested and involved in the Overwatch lore and gameplay.
The development team has also shown no signs of slowing down, as work is currently ongoing to bring the game's 25th hero, Doomfist, to the main game. This means that the popularity of the game will not be dying down soon, and will actually likely increase as more Overwatch anniversary events pass through.
