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[Draugoth]

Blizzard’s bringing its PC games to Steam, starting with Overwatch 2

Players will still need a Battle.net account, however

www.polygon.com

• Players will still need a Battle.net account, however
• Blizzard Entertainment games coming to Steam, starting with Overwatch 2 on August 10

Blizzard Entertainment is bringing its PC games to Steam, starting with the release of Overwatch 2 on Valve’s digital storefront on Aug. 10, Blizzard announced Wednesday.

The Windows PC version of Overwatch 2, like many of Blizzard’s PC games, is currently only available through Battle.net. But with Microsoft’s impending acquisition of Activision Blizzard and declining player engagement in the game, the maker of Diablo, Warcraft, and Overwatch appears to be changing its strategy.

Blizzard says it will bring “a selection” of its games to Steam, but did not specify which titles beyond Overwatch 2 will make the jump from Battle.net. (A few classic Blizzard games, including the original Diablo and the first two Warcraft games, are available through GOG.com.)

The acceptance of Steam as a platform for Blizzard’s games is part of the studio’s evolution, the company said in a blog post. “[O]ne of the ideas pushing us forward is meeting players around the world where they are, and making our games as easy as possible to access and play,” the company said. “We want to give everyone a chance to experience our universes with old friends while making new ones, no matter how they choose to play.”

In its announcement, Blizzard said it’s not moving away from Battle.net. But, it explained, “as we’ve evolved, the industry has evolved too — gaming is no longer just for specific communities as it was when Battle.net launched over two decades ago, gaming is for everyone–and though we remain committed to continually investing in and supporting Battle.net, we want to break down the barriers to make it easier for players everywhere to find and enjoy our games.”

“It’s our goal at Blizzard to listen to players and try to exceed their expectations in everything we do,” said Mike Ybarra, president of Blizzard Entertainment, in a statement. “While Battle.net remains a priority for us now and into the future, we’ve heard players want the choice of Steam for a selection of our games, starting with Overwatch 2 [...]. We’re happy to work with Valve to make that happen.”

“Gamers and developers are both going to benefit from Overwatch 2 coming to Steam,” said Gabe Newell, Valve’s president, in a statement. “Gamers will have another platform where they can play a beloved game that utilizes the capabilities of Steam, and developers will benefit from the effects of having the talented team at Blizzard helping us evolve our supported features and functionality for Overwatch 2.”

 

[k_trout]

 

[GHG]

They're literally putting the one game nobody wants on Steam. It's going to get destroyed in the reviews.

Do Diablo you cowards.

 

[hinch7]

 

[T-Cake]

I just hope they don't force you to install battle.net when you purchase a game on Steam!

Now can we have Diablo III at least.

 

[Dreathlock]

This is fantastic!!!

 

[Sanepar]

Steam is god.

 

[squarealex]

Put Heroes of the Storm on Steam coward...

Let the game rebirth...

 

[nikos]

Interesting. If everything carries over, and it definitely should, I may just play it via Steam instead. It's pretty much the last game I still launch on battle.net, unless Diablo IV Season 1 ends up being good.

 

[Success]

HOLY SHIT!

Might actually play Overwatch again!

 

[Hudo]

WarCraft 3 CLASSIC would be cool to have on Steam. And Diablo 1 as well as Diablo II Resurrected.

 

[acm2000]

MS pulling some strings already.

 

[joeygreco1985]

Can i transfer my purchase to Steam?

 

[docchicken]

MS pulling some strings already.

No. They already started with MW2 last year actually.

 

[adamsapple]

They're literally putting the one game nobody wants on Steam. It's going to get destroyed in the reviews.

Do Diablo you cowards.

No doubt if/when the merger completes.

 

[Interfectum]

Steam Deck just went up in value.

 

[Varteras]

declining player engagement in the game,

No shit. You more or less just re-released the first game and dropped things that people were looking forward to. Like talents and the Hero PVE mode. On top of shrinking the squad size, which upset a lot of people.

 

[GHG]

No doubt if/when the merger completes.

I'd like them on steam absent of the merger.

 

[LordCBH]

So the only crap launcher left to move games to steam is Ubisoft Connect right?

 

[havoc00]

Gabe wins again

 

[adamsapple]

I'd like them on steam absent of the merger.

You will eat the pie you're served and you will enjoy it.

 

[Puscifer]

Hope Microsoft gets rid of their ridiculous server side shit for Diablo and let's us have true native gameplay

 

[acm2000]

No. They already started with MW2 last year actually.

blizzard made MW2? who knew

 

[docchicken]

blizzard made MW2? who knew

Call of duty games have been launching on battle net post Acti-blizz merger until recently. You can look it up.

 

[Diddy X]

But MS hasn't purchased them yet, how are they moving things already?

 

[FearlessBelgian]

Sad that they start with their worst game...

 

[Shubh_C63]

I still like casual Overwatch play from time to time. I will honestly play a lot more if it was in my steam library.
Good move.

 

[Puscifer]

But MS hasn't purchased them yet, how are they moving things already?

At this point it's guaranteed, no use in fighting it. Regardless of the long term outcome the only whiners in this are going to be Sony bros who can't accept reality and those who think it shouldn't have happened

 

[Spyxos]

Ow 1 was so awesome, almost everyone I knew played it. Ow2 doesn't seem to interest anyone. The player numbers must be very low if they are even releasing it on Steam now.

 

[ssringo]

The only surprise is that it took this long.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Good move by Microsoft.

 

[winjer]

Of all the games that Blizzard made....
Why did it have to be this crap....

 

[SirKicksalot]

Missed opportunity to do it on Starcraft 2's anniversary.

 

[Interfectum]

Of all the games that Blizzard made....
Why did it have to be this crap....

Needs the most help as it's plummeting in user engagement. No doubt others will follow.

 

[Varteras]

Of all the games that Blizzard made....
Why did it have to be this crap....

Because it's the next IP closest to dying. Heroes of the Storm and StarCraft were already abandoned.

 

[winjer]

Because it's the next IP closest to dying. Heroes of the Storm and StarCraft were already abandoned.

Just let it die and bring on the good games.

 

[Holammer]

WarCraft 3 CLASSIC would be cool to have on Steam. And Diablo 1 as well as Diablo II Resurrected.

I want Diablo 1&2, but I want the pixely & sexist version of D2. Sell it to me MS.

Looking forward to the account transfer, fingers crossed. It poses an interesting challenge as some players (like a friend of mine) have maxed out 350€ wallets due to selling gold in WoW. Will be interesting if being available on Steam will breathe new life into older games like HotS.

 

[Red5]

Nice, but out of all the launchers out there outside Steam I was never bothered by Battle.net, it predates Steam by a decade at least and always worked for me.

 

[Varteras]

Just let it die and bring on the good games.

The writing was on the wall for this franchise when Jeff Kaplan left Blizzard. Overwatch was his baby.

 

[Interfectum]

Never thought I would see the day... Valve just keeps winning.

Full controller support and Steam achievements confirmed. All we need now is the Deck Verified logo.

 

[Gamezone]

Great news. So basically Ubisoft is the only publisher who don't release new games on Steam now.

 

[LazyParrot]

I don't expect them to ever drop the account requirement, at least for existing titles. Those games were all built around Battle.net and rely on it for all sorts of shit, ripping it out and replacing it with something else would be an absolute nightmare.

 

[Gamezone]

Can i transfer my purchase to Steam?

Maybe Microsoft will shut down the Battle.net launcher as they did with the Bethesda launcher. I think it was possible to transfer Bethesda game over to Steam when that happened, but Battle.net is also much more popular, so who knows.

 

[T-Cake]

I don't expect them to ever drop the account requirement, at least for existing titles. Those games were all built around Battle.net and rely on it for all sorts of shit, ripping it out and replacing it with something else would be an absolute nightmare.

I don't mind having a battle.net account that you can log in to within the game but certainly get rid of the actual application requirement, such as happened with Bethesda.

 

[acm2000]

Call of duty games have been launching on battle net post Acti-blizz merger until recently. You can look it up.

yes but this is specifically about blizzard made games, not activisions

 

[Red5]

Maybe Microsoft will shut down the Battle.net launcher as they did with the Bethesda launcher. I think it was possible to transfer Bethesda game over to Steam when that happened, but Battle.net is also much more popular, so who knows.

They won't, all of their games which supports millions of accounts rely on the Battle.net network to function online, I don't anytime when moving completely to Steam would be feasible.

 

[BennyBlanco]

All roads lead back to Big Gabe

I will buy Starcraft 2 on day 1 full price

 

[VN1X]

I wish we could get all of the CoD games on Steam with normal fuckin' pricing.

The original(!) CoD is still 20eu on Steam.

 

[twilo99]

MS pulling some strings already.

Just remember, ABK deal is bad for everyone.

 

[Hudo]

pixely & sexist version of D2.

I'll take that as well.