Speaking with Game Informer, Game Director Jeff Kaplan revealed that Soldier 76 has been the most played character in Overwatch, and “that?s been pretty consistent since day one.” The least played character, meanwhile, is Symmetra, and that’s “also been pretty consistent.”
Kaplan says Solider 76 being the most played character was deliberate on Blizzard’s part, as they wanted to create something familiar to players coming from other shooters, so 76 was featured in the tutorial. “We also designed 76 in such a way that he?s nearly always a good pick,” he added. “He works well with any composition. He?s soft-countered by a few heroes but not really hard-countered by anybody, and he either soft- or hard-counters a lot of other heroes. So the fact that 76 is the most played is very reassuring to us.” As for Symmetra, Kaplan thinks there’s a perception issue where she’s not useful on attack – “which isn?t actually true” – and she’s instead used defensively on hybrid, payload, assault maps on the first point. “On defense, people are playing her so that the defenders have a teleporter back on the first point on the map, and when the first point gets lost players will switch off of her,” he added. “So the fact that she?s our lowest played is not surprising to us. It?s exactly how players are playing her, and it?s not really an anomaly.”
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