Blizzard Leisure is bringing its PC video games to Steam, beginning with the discharge of Overwatch 2 on Valve’s digital storefront on Aug. 10, Blizzard introduced Wednesday. Polygon experiences: The Home windows PC model of Overwatch 2, like lots of Blizzard’s PC video games, is presently solely out there by means of Battle.web. However with Microsoft’s impending acquisition of Activision Blizzard and declining participant engagement within the recreation, the maker of Diablo, Warcraft, and Overwatch seems to be altering its technique. Blizzard says it is going to deliver “a variety” of its video games to Steam, however didn’t specify which titles past Overwatch 2 will make the leap from Battle.web. (Just a few basic Blizzard video games, together with the unique Diablo and the primary two Warcraft video games, are out there by means of GOG.com.)
The acceptance of Steam as a platform for Blizzard’s video games is a part of the studio’s evolution, the corporate stated in a weblog submit. “[O]ne of the concepts pushing us ahead is assembly gamers world wide the place they’re, and making our video games as straightforward as attainable to entry and play,” the corporate stated. “We need to give everybody an opportunity to expertise our universes with previous mates whereas making new ones, regardless of how they select to play.” In its announcement, Blizzard stated it is not shifting away from Battle.web. However, it defined, “as we have developed, the trade has developed too — gaming is now not only for particular communities because it was when Battle.web launched over twenty years in the past, gaming is for everybody — and although we stay dedicated to repeatedly investing in and supporting Battle.web, we need to break down the obstacles to make it simpler for gamers all over the place to seek out and luxuriate in our video games.”
Blizzard says that gamers on Steam will nonetheless want a Battle.web account linked to Overwatch 2 to play the sport. The Steam model will assist Steam achievements and mates lists, however Blizzard didn’t announce Steam Deck assist. Overwatch 2 can now be wishlisted by means of Steam. As for Blizzard’s future plans for different recreation releases on Steam, the corporate stated will probably be “sharing extra about potential different video games coming to the platform when the time is true.”
