IGN gave Overwatch a 9.4/10. Blizzard thanked them by deleting the game.

Let's run the numbers. IGN scored Overwatch 1 at 9.4/10 in May 2016. Six years later, Blizzard launched Overwatch 2 — the same game, minus six years of content parity, plus a battle pass — and IGN scored that an 8/10. So the sequel to a 9.4 is an 8, despite being built in an identical engine, featuring identical gameplay, and launching with fewer heroes than its predecessor had at end of life. The math ain't mathing.

Meanwhile, what happened to the 9.4? It no longer exists. Overwatch 1 servers were shut down on October 4, 2022. The day Overwatch 2 launched, Blizzard deleted the game IGN called 'brilliant' and built on a 'strong, flexible foundation.' The review still lives on ign.com, forever in amber, a monument to a product you cannot play, purchase, or return. Your 9.4/10 reviewed something Blizzard had already scheduled for deletion in a boardroom meeting you were not invited to.

The original review praises the loot box economy as earnable through play — a sentence that became the gaming press's most ironic callback when Overwatch 2 launched with heroes locked behind a battle pass, cosmetics buried under a paywall, and the entire currency system redesigned for maximum friction. Every kind word about Blizzard's 'generosity' is a timestamp for exactly when the credibility transfer happened. IGN provided the goodwill. Blizzard invoiced it and ran.

9.4/10 for a game you cannot play anymore. 8/10 for the product Blizzard made to replace it. These are not editorial scores. These are receipts. The math ain't mathing.