BlizzCon has come and gone, and with it, we got reveals for basically every Blizzard IP out there, from World of Warcraft to Overwatch, but in between all the big announcements were a few equally interesting ones that no-one saw coming. We already knew that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered was coming to Battle.net in late September, but it is being joined by Cyberpunk 2077 later in the year, which has a lot of players excited, yet it raises a question regarding the platform's place in the wider gaming market.
Over the years, Battle.net has grown from Blizzard's exclusive launcher for all their games across several generations into a strange mix of first-party titles and games from other studios, primarily driven by Xbox's acquisition of the company back in 2023. When you boot up the launcher, you see the classic names like Diablo and StarCraft, but are now greeted with Avowed, The Outer Worlds 2, and soon, the CD Projekt Red heavy hitters, which starts to make it look less like a Blizzard-only space and more like a universal platform. And, while it is clear that Blizzard isn't going to overtake Steam or even Epic Games overnight, it raises the question about where Battle.net fits in the conversation about gaming launchers, especially as more big names are added over time.
Just over a decade ago, Battle.net was a platform reserved for Blizzard's games and content, and although it had nowhere near as many games as something like Steam, quantity was far from the point. In my eyes, the launcher stood as the main hub for all things Blizzard, and it didn't matter if you came for WoW or Starcraft; the platform had a very specific reason to exist. As time has gone on, we have seen more games being added to the platform, with sequels launching and several spin-offs rounding out the edges, but the list that exists now is far from Blizzard-dominated.
چوونەژوورەوە
بۆ ئەوەی ئیدیعای شوێنی خۆت بکەیت لەسەر لیدەربۆرد!
چوونەژوورەوە
بۆ ئەوەی ئیدیعای شوێنی خۆت بکەیت لەسەر لیدەربۆرد!
You can use Battle.net to launch the latest Call of Duty, or sail the oceans in Sea of Thieves, and now you are going to be able to play two of the greatest single-player RPGs ever made, with Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3 joining the fray. Now some of the additions make sense from a corporate point of view, because of the relationship between Activision and Blizzard, but these large RPGs also feel like an ideal fit for the platform. If you already have a big player base of RPG lovers who may be looking for something new, then why not give them exactly what they want on their doorstep, instead of forcing them to look elsewhere in the competition?
And, while it is clear that Blizzard isn't going to overtake Steam or even Epic Games overnight, it raises the question about where Battle.net fits in the conversation about gaming launchers, especially as more big names are added over time.
However, when you begin adding more and more games to a launcher, it starts to look less like a tailored list and more like a fully-fleshed out gaming platform. Blizzard themselves have said that these additions are in no way intended to make Battle.net compete with Steam or Epic Games, and the focused approach is intended to give the existing players on the platform the kinds of games that they think would be the best fit (via GamesRadar). I do see the argument, as it isn't as if Blizzard has opened the floodgates and added any and all games to their platform and is instead taking things slow with a more structured set of deals.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://gamerant.com/battle-net-steam-epic-games-store-competition-third-party-games/
