The open beta for Overwatch, Blizzard's new multiplayer first-person shooter, was played by 9.7 million people earlier this week totalling 4.9 billion minutes of gameplay - about 81 million hours - in 37 million matches, which is a new record for the game developer. The game emphasizes cooperative gameplay using a cast of various "heroes", each with their own abilities and roles within a team.

"We're thrilled that such an incredible number of players from around the globe got a chance to check out Overwatch during the Open Beta" said Mike Morhaime, CEO at Blizzard. "Our mission was to make sure as many console and PC gamers as possible could experience the full game ahead of its launch. The response was overwhelming, and we hope that everyone had a blast." Morhaime added.

The open beta of the game was available from May 5th to May 9th. The full retail game releases on May 24th for PC, Xbox One and Playstation 4.