Overwatch Blizzard's biggest beta ever

Blizzard Entertainment believes it has a major hit on its hands with new IP Overwatch, boasting that its recent open beta was the company's biggest ever.

Known for games from Diablo to World of Warcraft, Overwatch is a new IP for Blizzard. A team-based shooter, Overwatch recently opened its doors to all-comers in a cross-platform open beta on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PCs. The result, Blizzard claims, was the biggest beta the company has ever seen: 9.7 million players fighting for more than 81 million man-hours across 37 million matches.

'We're thrilled that such an incredible number of players from around the globe got a chance to check out Overwatch during the Open Beta,' trilled Mike Morhaime, chief executive and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, following the beta programme. 'Our mission was to make sure as many console and PC gamers as possible could experience the full game ahead of its launch — the response was overwhelming, and we hope that everyone had a blast.'

Overwatch launches on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PCs on the 24th of May.