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Finally. One less extra launcher to become a nuisance? Blizzard games are finally coming to Steam with Overwatch 2 set to be the first on August 10th. Perhaps then it's no surprise Valve fixed up an issue with Overwatch 2 in Proton Experimental for Linux / Steam Deck.

Announced in a press release:

“It’s our goal at Blizzard to listen to players and try to exceed their expectations in everything we do,” said Mike Ybarra, President of Blizzard Entertainment. “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 10th. We’re happy to work with Valve to make that happen.”

"Gamers and developers are both going to benefit from Overwatch 2 coming to Steam," said Gabe Newell, Valve's president. "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 features and functionality for Overwatch 2."

Exciting times to be a gamer!

It's not clear what other Blizzard games will be coming or when, but I'll let you know when I know. For Overwatch 2 you will need to connect up a Battle.net account, which enables full cross-play too. Blizzard said playing on Steam will give you all the usual Steam features like Steam Achievements, Steam Friends integration and the ability to invite people into your game.

Looking over their recent financial results, they said pretty clearly that Overwatch 2 was seeing a decline in "engagement and player investment" but with a Steam release and the Overwatch 2: Invasion update coming, maybe they can turn it around.

You can follow Overwatch 2 on Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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27 comments
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mr-victory Jul 20, 2023
Quoting: BelaptirWhat's the question that he's answering?
https://nitter.net/Qwik/status/1681720303389667328
fenglengshun Jul 20, 2023
Quoting: akselmoEdit: I think they don't have enough players in their lootbox circus, so this is their last hurrah trying to get players?
They don't have lootbox anymore, just a stupid battle pass and per-item purchases, but they are being desperate after a bunch of people declared the game dead following the cancellation of the PvE campaign.
Sanaka3 Jul 20, 2023
would be interesting to see if they would move other games and what they'll do with them in general (namely sc2, hots, maybe d2/3). though something tells me it's just a move to expose ow2 to a larger audience
officernice Jul 20, 2023
Too bad OW2 sucks. Should've made the first one f2p and released a map editor. That would've run forever.
lejimster Jul 20, 2023
I have all my old blizzard games on battle.net so I'm not really too bothered about them being on steam, although it's great for steam deck. I personally wish battle.net would make a Linux launcher as it's not so clean to run through 3rd party tools.
based Jul 20, 2023
I'd probably give the game a try, I hope they get StarCraft 1 and 2 on Steam was well but idk if they know they sell those

That and Heroes of the Storm, that game's as dead as tf2 and was just as awesome


Last edited by based on 20 July 2023 at 1:17 pm UTC
Helmet Jul 20, 2023
Here's hoping for Steam Deck compatibility.

And then StarCraft 1 & 2, and Warcraft 1, 2, & 3.
At least bring the Battle.net games over
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