Blizzard's smash hit team shooter Overwatch now has 40m players.

That's according to game director Jeff Kaplan, who appeared in a video on the PlayOverwatch YouTube channel (below) to discuss the upcoming two year anniversary.

Yes, it's been two years since Overwatch blasted onto the scene, with the title showing continued growth. Blizzard has brought five million players into the mix since October 2017, when the game had 35m users in its ecosystem. This is perhaps in part driven by the alarming success of the Overwatch League.

"We now have 40m players, which is amazing," Kaplan said. "And this is a great opportunity for us, the Overwatch team, to celebrate all of you and all the amazing things you have done for the game; all the awesome content you have created for the game. We have a lot of special stuff planned for this event."

40m players over two years is pretty good by any measure, but it hasn't all been smooth sailing for Overwatch. The game has had real problems with its community; last year, Kaplan detailed how difficult it was being involved with some aspects of the Overwatch fanbase.

Blizzard has been coming up with some new and interesting ways to deal with toxicity in its community, as well. For one, the developer and publisher has put together a 'strike force' to this end and is also turning to machine learning and AIs to spot both toxic language and toxic gaming. In the future, the firm hopes that machines will be able to see when someone is acting in a negative way.