Blizzard Returns to Battle.net With Blizzard Battle.net

Published: August 17, 2017 10:00 AM /

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Blizzard Battle.net

Blizzard Entertainment has rebranded their digital download service (and its associated app) from "Blizzard App" to "Blizzard Battle.net" according to a news post on the company's official website.

The desktop app for downloading Blizzard Entertainment games was first announced in August 2013. It provided a way for users to keep Blizzard's small catalog of games updated along with all of the social features one would expect from a digital download service such as a friends list and a profile. After a bit over three years, the desktop application was renamed to the Blizzard app.

After less than a year, Blizzard is changing the branding of the app to Blizzard Battle.net. The change is taking place in response to fan feedback as well as to address concerns that were raised when they first announced the change. A new logo is part and parcel of the name change as well, although it's more or less the Blizzard logo with "Battle.net" underneath it.

Aside from community commentary on the name "Blizzard App", the change may be in part due to the fact that Destiny 2 was added as part of the platform and is the sole avenue for PC distribution of the game. Although Destiny 2 is published by Activision (who is associated with Blizzard Entertainment through their parent company Activision Blizzard), it is nonetheless not a Blizzard game and the potential branding confusion & other issues may have been a factor in the decision to make the change.


Quick Take

As one of the above-linked articles states, the change to the "Blizzard app" was pretty dumb in my opinion. Battle.net has been around for nearly 20 years and was well-known as an online service, and renaming the app to "Blizzard" shoehorned them into a name and made it difficult to them to potentially bring in third party games. With this change having taken place and Destiny 2 coming to the service, we may see more games from other companies end up on the platform.

What did you think of Blizzard Entertainment initially changing the branding from Battle.Net to Blizzard? Do you think it was a good idea to shift the name to Blizzard Battle.net after less than a year? What do you think of Battle.net as a service in general? Let us know in the comments below!

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One of my earliest memories is playing Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System. I've had a controller in my hand since I was 4 and I… More about Robert N