A pair of Pokémon games are coming to Nintendo Switch Online today.
19.07.2023 - 18:35 / ign.com / Mike Ybarra
After years of dogged commitment to its own PC launcher, Battle.net, Blizzard is finally caving and releasing a handful of its games on Valve's popular storefront, Steam. And it's starting with Overwatch 2.
Overwatch 2 will come to Steam on August 10, with a store page for the game already live. This release will coincide with a new content update, Invasion, which includes PvE story missions, a new PvP game mode, two new maps, and a new hero. Users will still need to connect a Battle.net account to the game to play Overwatch 2 via Steam.
In a blog post today, Blizzard explains the reasoning behind its decision to release select games on Steam as driven by a desire to "break down the barriers" between gaming communities.
“It’s our goal at Blizzard to listen to players and try to exceed their expectations in everything we do,” said Blizzard president Mike Ybarra. “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 on August 10th. We’re happy to work with Valve to make that happen.”
Notably, though, this news comes the same day as Activision-Blizzard's earnings report, during wihch the company admitted Overwatch 2's engagement and player investment has "declined sequentially" over the quarter. The game has seen a somewhat mixed reception since release, with players especially upset over the decision to cancel the game's PvE Hero Mode, which was the main distinction between it and the original Overwatch. IGN's launch review of the sequel, however, said that the switch to a 5v5 format "breathes new life" into the shooter.
No word yet on what other Blizzard games will be headed to the Steam launcher in the future,
A pair of Pokémon games are coming to Nintendo Switch Online today.
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Blizzard games will be coming to Steam, starting with Overwatch 2 on 10th August, giving PC gamers an option outside of Battle.net for where they buy and play their Blizzard games.
Blizzard is bringing a selection of its PC games over to Steam, starting with Overwatch 2. The free-to-play team-based shooter is headed to Valve's gaming client on August 10, in what appears to be a change in Blizzard's strategy due to its impending acquisition by Microsoft and the low player engagement the game has garnered in recent times. The Windows PC version of Overwatch 2 and other games from the publisher is largely restricted to its Battle.net launcher — a hot topic for most PC gamers, who prefer having all their games on one platform and hate having to juggle between them. The Steam version will also include the niceties of unlockable achievements and cross-platform multiplayer.
For a while now, Blizzard fans on PC have had to begrudgingly put up with Battle.net, the developer's very own launcher that it uses to boot up pretty much every game released by Activision Blizzard. It's a pain in the neck for any PC player to have to constantly download launchers for different games, but Battle.net is a particularly annoying example of a developer forcing its fans to put up with a subpar launcher when Steam is already installed on 90 percent of computers at this point.