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

[John Elden Ring]

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

Players will still need a Battle.net account, however

www.polygon.com

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.”

 

[flaccidsnake]

Excellent news! Hopefully they actually DO move away from Battle.net over time. Also, it would be excellent if they could link Steam+Blizzard accounts so I can activate my existing Diablo4 purchase on Steam.

 

[nongkris]

You can't tell me that Microsoft doesn't have some sort of substantial investment in Steam, the way they cape so hard for each other. I wouldn't be surprised since they were founded from ex MS employees.

 

[flaccidsnake]

I love to invest in destroying my own 30 year monopoly. It is smart to do.

 

[Firefly]

I really believe that MS penultimate acquisition will be valve. I have this theory that they are going after pubs that have pc launchers so they can get rid of it which further builds steams market share as default pc launcher . Then when Steam is pretty much the only pc launcher besides epic games store that's when they will swoop in and acquire valve. Its not that of a far fetched idea since MS got rid of the bethesda launcher now battle.net might seem like the next launcher to close.

 

[Gods&Monsters]

You can't tell me that Microsoft doesn't have some sort of substantial investment in Steam, the way they cape so hard for each other. I wouldn't be surprised since they were founded from ex MS employees.

Going to Steam was planned before the acquisition, no? COD already went back last year before MS could ask anything.

I agree that in the end MS will acquire Valve, it's the ending they want and we know regulators are completely useless and stupid.

 

[flaccidsnake]

We literally have the docs showing what companies MS considered for acquisition. Valve wasn't on the list (which was notoriously huge).

 

[Systemshock2023]

Why would anyone be pissed about battlenet games getting to steam? I'd love to buy diablo 2 there.

Also time for that Tony hawk game to get to steam as well as CTR.

 

[flaccidsnake]

Why would anyone be pissed about battlenet games getting to steam? I'd love to buy diablo 2 there.

Of course not, and I hope I can redeem my Battlenet purchases on Steam.

 

[Zzero]

You can't tell me that Microsoft doesn't have some sort of substantial investment in Steam, the way they cape so hard for each other. I wouldn't be surprised since they were founded from ex MS employees.

G4WL and the new Microsoft store are both attempts to kill Steam. And SteamOS is an attempt to separate PC gaming from modern Windows' onerous bullshit. The two clearly work against eachother.

 

[NeonFace]

Good

 

[Kokoloko]

Good

Isnt Steam as much as a 3rd party launcher compared to Epic store?

 

[Kokoloko]

You can't tell me that Microsoft doesn't have some sort of substantial investment in Steam, the way they cape so hard for each other. I wouldn't be surprised since they were founded from ex MS employees.

Wouldnt be surprised in 10 years MS bought Steam

 

[Kokoloko]

I agree that in the end MS will acquire Valve, it's the ending they want and we know regulators are completely useless and stupid.

Same. As long as mobile games are including in video games, MS can buy Steam, EA, Take2 and it won’t be considered as a monopoly.
No1 has a chance with corrupt courts, judges and corporate contributions in politics

 

[flaccidsnake]

A Steam launch would be a great time to port gamepad support to Diablo3 and add split screen support to D3&4.

 

[Nhomnhom]

You can't tell me that Microsoft doesn't have some sort of substantial investment in Steam, the way they cape so hard for each other. I wouldn't be surprised since they were founded from ex MS employees.

So does Sony. They now port all their games to Steam and Valve doesn't port a single one of their games to PS5.

Gabe doesn't seem to like MS very much but he also seems to dislike Sony even more for some reason (probably because Xbox is such a weak ecosystem that mostly just distracts MS).

 

[Zzero]

A Steam launch would be a great time to port gamepad support to Diablo3 and add split screen support to D3&4.

Nah, its the perfect time to just delete it entirely from the servers and focus on supporting 2 and 4.

 

[flaccidsnake]

So does Sony. They now port all their games to Steam and Valve doesn't port a single one of their games to PS5.

Gabe doesn't seem to like MS very much but he also seems to dislike Sony even more for some reason (probably because Xbox is such a weak ecosystem that mostly just distracts MS).

What's the evidence for "Gabe" not liking Sony? The PS3 release of Portal 2 was a milestone for including a Steam key with the PS3 discs, cross save, and cross play. They didn't do much on PS or Xbox last generation largely cause they were focused on VR, SteamOS, and Dota2.

 

[Nhomnhom]

What's the evidence for "Gabe" not liking Sony? The PS3 release of Portal 2 was a milestone for including a Steam key with the PS3 discs, cross save, and cross play. They didn't do much on PS or Xbox last generation largely cause they were focused on VR, SteamOS, and Dota2.

Where it started:

Where we are at:

 

[flaccidsnake]

Where it started:

Where we are at:

From a hardware perspective, it's true in both cases. If MS had a studio as technically brilliant as Naughty Dog (and no Series S), we'd see more of a difference between Series X and PS5.