Blizzard’s bringing its PC games to Steam, starting with Overwatch 2
Blizzard Entertainment is bringing its PC games to Steam starting with the release of Overlook 2 on Valve’s digital storefront on August 10, Blizzard announced Wednesday.
The Windows PC version of Overlook 2like many of Blizzard’s PC games, is currently only available through battle.net. But with Microsoft’s imminent acquisition of Activision Blizzard and player involvement in the game declining, the creator of Diablo, Warcraft, and Overwatch appears to be changing its strategy.
Blizzard says it will be bringing “a selection” of its games to Steam, but hasn’t specified which titles will move forward Overlook 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 adoption of Steam as a platform for Blizzard’s games is part of the studio’s evolution, the company said in a blog post. “[O]One of the ideas that moves us forward is to meet players around the world where they are, and to make our games as easy to access and play as possible,” the company said. “We want to give everyone the chance to experience our universes with old friends and make new ones at the same time, regardless of 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, so has the industry – gaming is no longer just for specific communities like it was when Battle.net launched over two decades ago, gaming is for everyone – and while we Remaining Committed To By continuing to invest in and support Battle.net, we want to break down the barriers to make it easier for players everywhere to find and enjoy our games.”
“It is our goal at Blizzard to listen to players and exceed their expectations in everything we do,” Mike Ybarra, president of Blizzard Entertainment, said in a statement. “While Battle.net remains a priority for us now and in the future, we’ve heard that players want to choose Steam for a selection of our games, starting with Overlook 2 […]. We are happy to work with Valve to make that happen.”
“Gamers and developers are both going to benefit Overlook 2 coming to Steam,” Gabe Newell, president of Valve, said in a statement. “Gamers will have another platform on which to play a beloved game that leverages the capabilities of Steam, and developers will benefit from the effects of having Blizzard’s talented team helping us improve our supported features and functionality for Overlook 2.”
Overlook 2, a free-to-play team-based shooter, “is the perfect title for Blizzard’s debut on the platform,” says Blizzard. Steam’s wide reach — 132 million monthly active users in 2021according to Valve — will expose a lot more players to Overlook 2which is getting a new season, a new hero, new PvE missions and a new core PvP game mode on August 10.
Blizzard says players on Steam will still need a Battle.net account they’re connected to Overlook 2 to play the game. The Steam version supports Steam achievements and friends lists, but Blizzard has not announced Steam Deck support. Overlook 2 can now be added to the wishlist through steam.
As for Blizzard’s future plans for other game releases on Steam, the company said it will “share more about possible other games coming to the platform when the time is right.”