Activision Blizzard is dealing with a massive shakeup with their acquisition and merger into Microsoft right now and while all that legal mumbo jumbo continues, Blizzard is making waves with the future of their flagship game franchises. Among those, is Overwatch (2) which is the first major Blizzard title to come to Valve’s Steam storefront/launcher.
Announced earlier today in a Blog post, Blizzard shared their plans of releasing Overwatch 2 next month as the first in what will presumably become many new titles coming to Steam. This will be the first time Overwatch as a franchise has been made available outside of their own launcher, Battle.net. Here is what Blizzard had to say about it:
“Battle.net is the home of all our PC players, and over the years, we’ve evolved our platform to support updated technologies, capabilities, and our communities’ expectations. But as we’ve evolved, the industry has evolved too–gaming is no longer just for specific communities as it was when Battle.net launched over two decades ago, gaming is for everyone–and though we remain committed to continually investing in and supporting Battle.net, we want to break down the barriers to make it easier for players everywhere to find and enjoy our games.
Which is why we’re trying something new.
We’re excited to announce that we are bringing a selection of our games to Steam, starting with Overwatch 2… which will be available on the platform on August 10!”
While this may be exciting to a select few, many are beginning to worry over the future of Overwatch as a whole, considering Blizzard’s dwindling devotion to expanding the PvE story campaigns further and the recent announcement of layoffs in the Overwatch competitive scene. The Overwatch League appears to be crumbling amidst poor management on Blizzard’s side and the choice to slap a ‘2’ on Overwatch is becoming increasingly frustrating among fans of the franchise, considering it means next to nothing at this point.
Still, obtaining achievements in Overwatch 2 may appeal to some and while the fate of the franchise and its future is unknown, having Blizzard games available on Steam is a good thing for those who despise Battle.net. In any case, we still can’t help but worry about the merger and what that will mean for Activision Blizzard, especially since Microsoft seems to be doing everything it can to tank each studio and IP it acquires. Guess we have no choice but to wait and see…
You can check out the full blog post over on News.Blizzard.com.
