Fans of Blizzard Entertainment's games may notice a new feature in their soon to be known as Blizzard Tech app: Blizzard voice.
This new functionality uses Blizzard’s app as a hub for players to chat with their friends or people they share mutual friends with. Blizzard Voice allows players to create channels that friends may join and speak freely across the company’s many games. Have friends playing Heroes of the Storm while you’re mowing people down as Bastion in Overwatch? With this addition, that is no longer an issue.
The addition of Blizzard Voice seems to be part of an overhaul of the company's app altogether. Last month the company announced Battle.net will be rebranded to Blizzard Tech. In August fans saw the implementation of Blizzard Streaming as well. The service allows Blizzard’s games to stream directly to Facebook from the desktop app. With Blizzcon just a couple of weeks away, we may see more announcements regarding Blizzard Tech and its features.
According to an article from PC Gamer, the feature was announced in early stages of development almost exactly a year ago.
However, the new feature has its limitations. For example, if friends speak on Blizzard Voice and then join an Overwatch group, the in-game voice chat and Blizzard Voice overlap. This means that players must pick one channel over the other. While it isn’t a major complaint, it’s an area where Blizzard can improve on the service.
Blizzard Voice is available now with a free update in the Blizzard Tech application.
Quick Take
I took some time to use the new feature and, so far, it’s great. Audio quality is solid and the app is easy to use. I like the idea of Blizzard making Blizzard Tech a service as opposed to just a way to access games.What do you think of the implementation of Blizzard Voice? Let us know in the comments below!
