As Blizzard evolves as a studio, inside and out, one idea that drives us is to meet gamers around the world, wherever they are, and make our games as accessible and playable as possible. We want to give everyone a chance to experience our universe with old friends while making new ones, no matter how they play.
Battle.net is home to all of our PC gamers, and over the years we’ve expanded our platform to support updated technology, features, and the expectations of our community. But as we’ve evolved, so has the industry — games aren’t just for the community as they were when Battle.net launched two decades ago, they’re for everyone — and we’re still committed to continuing to invest in and support Battle.net, we We want to break down barriers to make it easier for players everywhere to find and enjoy our games.
So we are trying something new.
We’re excited to announce that we’re bringing a selection of our games to Steam, starting with Overwatch 2…which will be available on the platform on August 10th!
“At Blizzard, our goal is to listen to players and strive to exceed their expectations in everything we do,” said Mike Ybarra, president of Blizzard Entertainment. “While Battle.net remains a priority for us now and into the future, we’ve heard that players want to pick up one of our games, starting with Overwatch 2 on August 10th. We’re excited to work with Valve to make this possible.”
“Players and developers alike will benefit from the addition of Overwatch 2 to Steam,” said Valve President Gabe Newell. “Players will have another platform to play a popular game that leverages the power of Steam, and developers will reap the benefits of having a talented team at Blizzard helping us develop supported features and supported features for Overwatch 2.”
As a free-to-play, team-based game, we think Overwatch 2 is the perfect title for Blizzard’s debut on the platform. Overwatch 2: Invasion launches with more new gameplay experiences than ever in the game’s seven-year history, including the first series of PvE story missions, a new core PvP game mode with two new maps, and of course, a new hero. . This is a great opportunity for new players to experience the world of Overwatch for the first time.
Overwatch 2’s presence on Steam alongside Battle.net, which allows the amazing community that already accesses the game through Battle.net to play it, requires no changes. Steam players still need to link their Overwatch 2 to a Battle.net account as we require it for all platforms to enable cross play and more. Players using Steam can access platform features while playing Overwatch 2, such as: B. Steam Achievements, a list of Steam friends and the ability to invite them to play in-game. We’re excited to hear feedback from the Overwatch community – both experienced and new players via Steam – and look forward to hearing their feedback.
As for Blizzard’s next steps on Steam, we’ll share more about other potential games coming to the platform in due course.
Overwatch 2 Steam page is live now, and available on the wish list! We invite the Overwatch community to give their new teammates a warm welcome on August 10th when they play on Steam!
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