No siree. We are not trying to fight those big bosses. It's arguably a bit of a weird thing for a publisher with Diablo and World of Warcraft in their arsenal to say, but that's the stance Blizzard are sticking to with their storefront Battle.net, even though it now boasts two big CD Projekt Red RPGs. Instead of an unknowably girthy hoard of games, the publishers say Battle.net's still designed to feel like a handpicked basket of things to play.
"We're obviously not out there trying to do the Steam or Epic Game Store thing," Blizzard senior vice president Andrew Guerrero told Polygon in an interview at this year's BlizzCon, where the company announced that Cyberpunk 2077 will be joining The Witcher 3's upcoming remaster on Battle.net.
"We really look at ourselves as, you know, we have our audience," he continued. "We have a passionate core of people that play Blizzard games and games similar to Blizzard, and if something makes sense for them, we'll get after it. It's a much more focused approach, I'd say, of 'What do we think our players would absolutely love? What are the top-tier quality experiences out there that we might be able to get some more exposure to, and does it make sense?'"
It's not too surprising a way to position Battle.net, given that unless you're going full Tim Sweeney and are prepared to risk being seen to tussle with the behemoth on top, PC storefronts tend to stick to selling themselves on one or two niches. For GOG, it's retro games that might not get the time of day elsewhere and keeping them up to date so they can be played easily. For Battle.net, it's something like 'yo, we heard you like Blizzard, so we put some games similar to Blizzard ones next to your Blizzard games'.
Guerrero did also point out that Battle.net's not currently designed to be a place new games can be published on with metronomic regularity, as has to be the case with storefronts looking to offer an unending sea of games. Though, he did note that Blizzard have worked on making their publishing process "much more straightforward" so their store can be home to select third-party games like The Witcher and Cyberpunk in a way that meshes with its curated small basket ethos.
For all the chat about doing what players love, Blizzard have still locked a Geralt crossover skin for Diablo 4 barbarians behind pre-ordering The Witcher 3's upcoming Songs of the Past DLC on Battle.net. I know there will inevitably be at least one person who does, but the idea of someone playing TW3 for the first time in 2026 because it's finally hit the launcher you use for Overwatch 2 boggles my mind a bit. Then again, Skyrim's been ported to toasters and outdoor heaters, so CD Projekt Red have a ways to go yet before they reach that level of 'ok, who is this actually for?'.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/blizzard-say-battlenet-isnt-looking-to-fight-steam-and-epic-for-supermassive-storefront-supremacy-despite-recently-nabbing-the-witcher-3-and-cyberpunk-2077
