Not all Overwatch Workshops are created equal, which was made clear in the most recent statistics shared by Blizzard vice president Jeff Kaplan.
After
launching
on live servers May 21, players have been creating their own game modes through the Workshop. This includes
a game
inspired by Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s Arms Race mode, Hero Gauntlet, which is now available to play in Arcade.
But the most popular game mode in North America is not Hero Gauntlet. It’s also not the Overwatch/Smash Bros. mash-up, or the new Wrecking Ball race. The most played Overwatch Workshop is actually UNO.
According to Kaplan’s
statistics, UNO has been played for 1,370 hours as of May 30. This includes 1,556 matches.
In
UNO, players stand around a glowing ring that appears either red, blue, green, or yellow. This ring represents the color of the card on the surface before them. The ring also shows the number of the card.
Primary and secondary fire can be used to switch a participant’s selected card. Jump is used to play a card, and crouch is to pass your turn. The ability two button switches between ability cards. Just like the card game it’s based on, Overwatch UNO’s action cards allow players to skip someone else’s turn, reverse the order of play, or even add cards to an opponent’s hand.
Blizzard’s Global Insights group stated that the popularity of UNO may be the “result of consolidation,” since there is only one version of UNO on the Workshop, while there are hundreds of other game modes featuring many different variations.
On North American and European servers, there are only two other modes with over 1,000 hours of collective playtime. That’s Lava Parkour, where participants play as a series of heroes who must jump to checkpoints, and McCree Hot Potato, where an imagined flaming potato is passed around.
The aforementioned Hammond Racing is in fourth place, followed by a game mode that was later turned into Hero Gauntlet.
While it may sound impressive that UNO had over 1,000 hours played, that doesn’t even compare to the popularity of the Workshop mode in Korea. The most played game on Korean servers is “High Blood Pressure Marathon,” with 5,667 hours played.
In this mode, there’s no cooldowns, infinite ultimates, and “some other crazy things mixed in,” said the Global Insights group.
“The response to the Workshop has been overwhelming,” Kaplan said. “You are all creating some amazing content!”
Olivia Richman
About Olivia Richman
Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.
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