Season 1 of Overwatch's Conquest event finished a few weeks ago, and the final numbers are in. Team Overwatch won the contest overall, but loyalty among players was, shall we say, negotiable.
The cold, hard stats
Here is the breakdown of player allegiance during the event:
- 32% of Conquest players remained loyal to Overwatch for the whole event.
- 30% stayed loyal to Talon throughout.
- 38% behaved like mercenaries, switching sides depending on the week.
"38% of you are not to be trusted." That was the blunt message from Overwatch on social media. If you were part of the 38%, you probably collected rewards from both camps.
Why so many switches?
The mercenary approach was actually a smart play for reward hunters. Players who flipped sides could pick up challenges, name cards, icons, and sprays from both teams. In practice, the weekly winners often came down to which side had the more interesting or exciting hero that week.
A clear example came when Jetpack Cat joined Overwatch. That addition caused a notable drop in Talon supporters, showing how a single hero can sway voter momentum.
Event volume and duration
- The Conquest event ran for about nine weeks.
- Players completed more than 250 million challenges during that time.
- The maximum number of challenges a player could complete without switching sides was just under 200 over the whole event.
So yes, Overwatch took the win, likely helped by having more of the week-to-week draws like Jetpack Cat. But the larger story is how many players treated the event as a rewards game, not a loyalty test.
Final thought
Conquest provided a lot of data about the player base: roughly one third committed to each team, and one third played both sides. Events like this are useful for seeing what motivates people, and for handing out cosmetics. Now the community waits for the next big challenge, and for the next hero who can pull votes like a magnet.
