Blizzard Entertainment is bringing some of its games to Steam, starting with its free-to-play hero shooter, Overwatch 2, on August 10. Blizzard announced that the vibrant FPS would become available on Valve’s PC platform in a news post today, explaining that the change comes as the studio becomes increasingly interested in “meeting players around the world where they are and making our games as easy as possible to access and play.”
“It’s our goal at Blizzard to listen to players and try to exceed their expectations in everything we do,” Blizzard president Mike Ybarra said. “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.”
Blizzard said that it chose Overwatch 2 as the first of its titles to make the jump to Steam because it is a free-to-play, team-based game. Its launch on August 10 also lines up nicely with an oncoming season of content that adds PvE story missions, a new core PvP mode, new maps, and a new playable hero. Meanwhile, Blizzard’s own game launcher, Battle.net, isn’t going anywhere. Additionally, users who play Overwatch 2 through Steam will still need to sign up for a Battle.net account to play and partake in crossplay features.
“Gamers and developers are both going to benefit from Overwatch 2 coming to Steam,” Valve president Gabe Newell said. “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.”
More titles from the Blizzard library will eventually come to Steam, and Blizzard will “be sharing more about potential other games coming to the platform when the time is right.” The Overwatch 2 Steam page is already live with the game available to wishlist.