Blizzard has shared it is planning to branch away from the Battle.net launcher and is gearing up to bring games to Steam. The change will allow fans to keep all their favorite titles in their Steam libraries rather than splitting things up between multiple launchers.
The transition will happen before the end of summer, with Overwatch 2 as the first confirmed game from Blizzard to come over to Steam. Several more games will likely be announced for the Steam transition closer to launch, though at this time, there is no information on which ones may be included.
Overwatch 2 Arrives on Steam with More Blizzard Games On The Way
The announcement comes from a blog post shared by the Blizzard team on their official website. The post does confirm Overwatch 2 will become available on Steam starting on August 10, 2023.
Blizzard president Mike Ybarra has confirmed that they are not moving away from Battle.net but opening games up to additional platforms to provide players with various options for where they can play these games.
“It’s our goal at Blizzard to listen to players and try to exceed their expectations in everything we do,” said Ybarra. “While Battle.net remains a priority for us now and into the future, we’ve heard players want the choice of Steam for a selection of our games, starting with Overwatch 2 on August 10. We’re happy to work with Valve to make that happen.”
Valve’s President, Gabe Newell, is also excited to welcome Overwatch 2 and other impending Blizzard titles to the popular game launcher. “Gamers and developers are both going to benefit from Overwatch 2 coming to Steam,” Newell said. “Gamers will have another platform where they can play a beloved game that utilizes the capabilities of Steam, and developers will benefit from the effects of having the talented team at Blizzard helping us evolve our supported feathers and functionality for Overwatch 2.”
Like EA games that have made their way over to Steam from Origin, a player will still need to create and access a Battle.net account to play Overwatch 2. However, Battle.net’s crossplay format should still work through Steam and offer a wide range of players who may not have picked up the game as they may have preferred to stick with Steam exclusively.
Players can check out and wishlist Overwatch 2’s Steam page right now to make sure they’re ready to jump into the game the moment it goes live. Additional games from Blizzard will be announced soon as we learn about additional titles making their way over. Here’s hoping we hear news about whether we will get Diablo 4 and if that will be one of the exclusives coming over to Steam.
