Battle.net is getting more games, but Blizzard doesn't want to pick a fight with Steam. Instead, Battle.net is meant to co-exist with the immovable colossus of PC gaming, not rival it.
It used to be that only Blizzard games showed up on Battle.net, but that changed back in 2017 with Destiny 2. Now there are currently 16 non-Blizzard games being sold or marketed for sale on Battle.net, including two new ones from CD Projekt; Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3 Remastered. Despite appearances, the billion-dollar publisher isn't out to take Valve's lunch money.
Blizzard SVP Andrew Guerrero tells Polygon that the home of StarCraft isn't trying to be like Steam or the Epic Store with their vast content libraries.
"We're obviously not out there trying to do the Steam or Epic Game Store thing. We really look at ourselves as...you know, we have our audience," the Blizzard exec said.
Guerrero also affirms that these kinds of crossovers and sales promos are meant to align with the existing Battle.net audience in some way.
How that is determined is unknown, but things like a Geralt skin in Diablo IV at least make logical sense--they're both RPGs set in fantasy worlds.
The other crossover also fits accordingly; Overwatch will receive content from another CD Projekt property, Edgerunners, as part of the promo.
It also helps that CD Projekt is currently cycling through another pass of its flywheel business model, which rotates games and franchises across transmedia as well as software re-releases. The incoming Witcher 3 Remastered that's out this month represents the fourth time the game has been released.
"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?'"
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Which non-Blizzard games are currently being sold or marketed on Battle.net?
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It's unclear what other promotions that Blizzard will have for Battle.net, and which other non-Blizzard games will come to the store in the future.
