Well colour me surprised! In a shocking twist it seems as though Activision/Blizzard are throwing in the towel and are deciding to now start selling their games on Steam, starting with Overwatch 2 on the 10th August.
This is an interesting move as Battle.net, Activision/Blizzard’s own digital client that they have been running even before Steam existed, still exists and a Battle.net account will still be required to play these games but it seems as though they are deciding to expand their library to the Valve-loving crowd. This even should allow various famous series from the company’s history, such as Diablo or Warcraft, to be natively playable on the Steam Deck which is a nice extra touch.
Now the real question comes though, why? While the company stated they want to provide choices and give freedom for users look a little deeper and a few things become clear. Firstly, with their approaching acquisition by Microsoft they may have been pressured to move onto Valve’s platform as many Microsoft games are also now selling on Steam where before they were very much against it, seems as though joining the Xbox hivemind may also come with a Steam release requirement. Alongside this it’s no secret that many of their games are slowly dwindling in popularity and population numbers, which may mean that this is an attempt to gather as many players as they can from other platforms to help boost their numbers, and the fact they are starting with Overwatch 2 is a very big tell.
Regardless I’m pretty happy that these are coming to Steam, maybe I will finally give World of Warcraft a try… yeah as if! That’s all for now, and as always. It’s not just a game, It’s a Life.