These Were Overwatch's Most Popular Characters During the Beta

Blizzard today released an infographic running down some of the stats to come out of the recent Overwatch open beta, which saw more than 9.7 million players give the game a try.

Among the details shared are what characters were most popular in their respective categories. For Offense, it was unsurprisingly Soldier 76, the white bread of Overwatch characters, that came out on top. For Defense, it was the sniper Widowmaker, while Reinhardt with his mobile shield was the top Tank. Among Supports, Mercy was most popular.

Overwatch allows players to swap characters following a death, something that's a critical part of winning. (Next time you're frustrated with Bastion--who died 326 million times during the beta, you might be happy to hear--try getting a Widowmaker to take his head off.) There were a total of 271 million mid-game hero switches, which Blizzard works out to be about eight per match.

You can see the rest of the figures Blizzard shared in the image below.

Overwatch officially launches on May 24, although thanks to servers going online simultaneously around the globe, that means many of us will get to start playing on May 23. To get prepared, check out our feature covering everything you need to know about Overwatch.