Blizzard Games Are Coming to Steam, Starting With Overwatch 2!

Blizzard has announced that Overwatch 2 will be coming to Steam as of August 10th! This will be the first of “a selection of games” to be offered outside of their platform, Battle.net, to reach more audiences and communities worldwide. This does not appear to be the beginning of the end for Battle.net as Blizzard says that they are still committed to “ investing in and supporting” it, but it’s rather an attempt to expand. Players will still need to have a Battle.net account to connect from Steam, but this update will allow them to have access to their friends list, achievements, and the ability to invite those friends to play Overwatch 2 with them through Steam.  

This launch on Steam just happens to perfectly line up with the launch of Overwatch 2: Invasion, and boy, is there a lot to look forward to. This new season comes with Overwatch 2’s first story missions with a focus on Sojourn, a new support hero, a co-op event, game mode, and more! 

For gamers that don’t mind spending a bit, here’s the extra content you can get for $15:

• Access to the Overwatch 2: Invasion Story Missions, during the season and permanently after
• 1,000 Overwatch Coins (equal to the Premium Battle Pass, $10 USD value)
• A brand-new Sojourn Legendary skin ($19 USD value)
• Permanent access to Sojourn as a playable hero for new players: unlocked upon completing Story Mission challenges.

If your love for Overwatch 2 runs even deeper, there’s a $40 package:

• The Null Sector Premium Battle Pass with 20 Battle Pass skips ($30 USD value)
• An additional 1,000 Overwatch Coins, for a total of 2,000 Overwatch Coins ($20 USD value)
• Two additional Legendary skins for Cassidy and Kiriko ($38 USD value).

This change to Steam might seem to come out of left field to some, but it makes a lot of sense for Blizzard considering how Overwatch 2 has been received since its launch. The initial excitement of a free-to-play change was quickly overshadowed by the realization that the sequel didn’t feel much like a sequel at all and was rather more like a large update. Although the beginning launch may have been underwhelming, loyal fans stuck around to see if Blizzard would deliver on their promise of a PvE mode but were once again let down when it was announced to be canceled after players had been led to believe it was still in the works. Blizzard apologized and through that apology, we learned that the Hero Missions were actually a development based on an idea for a separate game altogether. While it’s disappointing that we won't be getting this giant update to Overwatch 2, it’s hard to believe that it would be possible to really deliver such a massive addition and change in format to the game all in one go. 

Despite that disappointment, it does look like there is a lot to look forward to for fans of Overwatch 2. Let’s hope for old-time’s sake that his new initiative brings in a new crowd as well as encourages older players to log in again!

Maybe Overwatch has seen its heyday, or maybe the best is yet to come, what do you think?