Since being announced in November 2014, Blizzard’s new hero-shooter Overwatch has been covered in the media just under 27,000 times. 

What’s more interesting than that overall number, is the breakdown provided by Ico Partners game consultant, Thomas Bidaux, which reveals why coverage spiked massively towards the end of Overwatch’s release cycle.

The media rushed to cover the beta, which attracted over 9.7 million players, the release date announcement, and the reveal that Overwatch wouldn't be free-to-play -- which alone accounted for over 700 articles. 

Bidaux’s graphs (found below) also show how Overwatch stacked up against Gearbox’s own hero-shooter, Battleborn, which is seen by many as a direct competitor.

Although it’s hardly groundbreaking to see a huge triple-A release receive a ton of coverage, it’s still worth checking out the data to find out how Blizzard played its hand, and strategically built up excitement over the course of two years.