Blizzard said it has banned Diablo 4 players who used a character realm transfer exploit that went viral late July.
19.07.2023 - 17:15 / gamesradar.com / Mike Ybarra / Gabe Newell
Blizzard games will be available on PC outside of the company's Battle.Net launcher when Overwatch 2 releases on Valve's platform next month.
In an announcement today, the developer confirmed that its games would be available on an alternative PC platform for the first time starting from August 10. In a press release, the company suggested that Overwatch 2's free-to-play, team-based format made it the best fit for Blizzard's Steam debut.
Blizzard's PC portfolio has been exclusively available on Battle.Net since the launcher started life in 1996, and the first game that released on the platform was the original Diablo. Since the company's merger with Activision in 2008, a number of that company's games, including various Call of Duty titles and Crash Bandicoot 4, have also released on PC via Battle.Net.
Overwatch 2 will continue to be available via Blizzard's launcher, and Steam players will still need to connect to a Battle.Net account in order to play. There'll be "cross-platform play" (something of a given since we're still just talking about PC), but Steam features, including your friends list, will be available as normal.
"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, as part of the announcement. "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."
"Gamers and developers are both going to benefit from Overwatch 2 coming to Steam," added Gabe Newell, Valve's president. "Gamers will have another platform where they can play
Blizzard said it has banned Diablo 4 players who used a character realm transfer exploit that went viral late July.
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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.
Blizzard is taking its first tentative steps away from Battle.net exclusivity, starting with the launch of Overwatch 2 on Steam this August and the promise of more games on the way.