I'm betting that the games won't be directly launchable from steam, and will instead just be convenience buttons to open but battlenet and launch from there. I hate games that do this sort of thing.
I'm betting that the games won't be directly launchable from steam, and will instead just be convenience buttons to open but battlenet and launch from there.
Wouldn't be surprised, just like rockstar and 2k's games, this is definitely gonna be the same way. Especially since they're saying you still need a battle.net account, it would make no sense for...
Wouldn't be surprised, just like rockstar and 2k's games, this is definitely gonna be the same way. Especially since they're saying you still need a battle.net account, it would make no sense for them to modify the games specifically for steam and add some sort of ingame login system only for the steam version. Seems like that would be a waste of time and money to me. But who knows, maybe they'll surprise us.
I mean both World of Warcraft can and Overwatch (the first one) could be launched through the .exe and you were presented with a login screen. You don't need to launch though the launcher. As for...
I mean both World of Warcraft can and Overwatch (the first one) could be launched through the .exe and you were presented with a login screen. You don't need to launch though the launcher. As for the other games I don't know.
Mike Ybarra seemed to suggest that there won’t be an intermediary launcher like with EA, Ubi, etc. Just a login then, presumably in-game? That’ll be good for the Steam Deck.
Mike Ybarra seemed to suggest that there won’t be an intermediary launcher like with EA, Ubi, etc. Just a login then, presumably in-game? That’ll be good for the Steam Deck.
There's been situations in the past where Battle.net failed to fully log in your account but if you manually launched Overwatch while the launcher was open (so it passed that check) then OW itself...
There's been situations in the past where Battle.net failed to fully log in your account but if you manually launched Overwatch while the launcher was open (so it passed that check) then OW itself could log in your account.
This suggests to me that this is feasible. It seems the login-code is part of the game, it doesn't just rely on the launcher to provide a checked and logged-in account to use.
I’m sure they’ll be directly launchable through Steam, but yes, Battle.net will still be required. They are being very clear about that part. I still hate it too, but alas. Everybody wants their...
I’m sure they’ll be directly launchable through Steam, but yes, Battle.net will still be required. They are being very clear about that part.
I still hate it too, but alas. Everybody wants their own layer on top of Steam, and to me it’s still better to be able to collect all my games in one launcher even if they silently boot through a second one. The real annoyance is the second layer of DRM / always on requirements these second layer launchers always add
If you don't mind the hour or two of setup, take a look at Playnite, which does this sort of thing "one level higher up". It launches the actual launcher - like Steam or GOG or so - to play the...
and to me it’s still better to be able to collect all my games in one launcher
If you don't mind the hour or two of setup, take a look at Playnite, which does this sort of thing "one level higher up".
It launches the actual launcher - like Steam or GOG or so - to play the game, then closes it again. It's really neat to have the entire library in one place, including indexing emulated games running on SCUMMVM, individually launched games, Steam, Epic, whatnot.
I’ve tried Playnite before but I didn’t like the interface. And the things I like most about Steam is the ‘ecosystem’ - tracking my achievements, playtime, and friend activity. Plus they typically...
I’ve tried Playnite before but I didn’t like the interface. And the things I like most about Steam is the ‘ecosystem’ - tracking my achievements, playtime, and friend activity. Plus they typically work easier on my Deck that way.
I used to use GOG Galaxy 2.0 & loved it but they’ve seemingly abandoned it and all the integrations broke.
I'm very happy that the days of the PC launcher diaspora seem to be over, with more and more companies choosing to put their games (back) on Steam. EA, Ubisoft, and Bethesda have all attempted to...
I'm very happy that the days of the PC launcher diaspora seem to be over, with more and more companies choosing to put their games (back) on Steam. EA, Ubisoft, and Bethesda have all attempted to jump ship before eventually returning -- and now Blizzard is joining for the first time. I used to manage different launchers back when I was on Windows and honestly wasn't too bothered by it, but when I switched to Linux, Steam became the only bucket I wanted to pile my games in. It's a genuine pain to get (and keep) other launchers working on Linux, much less get their games working correctly. Steam's Linux support, with a native launcher and built-in no-click Proton support for Windows games is genuinely unbeatable.
Unfortunately we still have to deal with stacking launchers, and I have no doubt that Blizzard games in Steam will just launch Battle.net which will then launch the game, but, honestly, even that's better than not having the game on Steam. One thing that would be great to see with the upcoming Battle.net releases would be a way for me to register my already owned games to my Steam account without me having to re-buy them. Neither Ubisoft nor EA does this, and I ended up rebuying a few things I already had on those platforms just to get copies of them underneath the umbrella of Steam's convenience.
Now, if changing to Linux made me disregard other launchers, the Steam Deck made them outright dead to me. It's possible to get non-Steam games working (Diablo IV, for example), but it's even more of a pain than on desktop. Just give me the game on Steam, please. My Deck demands it!
Interestingly enough, Crash Bandicoot 4 was a Battle.net exclusive for a while, before quietly releasing on Steam last year. It never made sense to me at the time -- not only does going to Bnet for a Crash Bandicoot game have a latent absurdness to it, but it also seemed like they were deliberately burying that version of the game. I'm someone who was interested in playing it but had no idea it had even released on PC because they only put it there.
It's been confirmed that it will launch directly through Steam. I've been having a lot of issues with Battle.net on Linux lately, so this is great news. Another thing people often overlook when...
Unfortunately we still have to deal with stacking launchers, and I have no doubt that Blizzard games in Steam will just launch Battle.net which will then launch the game
It's been confirmed that it will launch directly through Steam. I've been having a lot of issues with Battle.net on Linux lately, so this is great news.
Just give me the game on Steam, please.
Another thing people often overlook when comparing launchers is regional pricing; Steam has very generous regional prices, while most other launchers just don't have them at all.
That's basically what's keeping me away from Blizzard, their awful management team that that knew about and allowed workplace harassment and discrimination. Who knows maybe they'll cash out and leave.
That's basically what's keeping me away from Blizzard, their awful management team that that knew about and allowed workplace harassment and discrimination. Who knows maybe they'll cash out and leave.
From my experience with corporate speak that is actually very encouraging. Reading between the lines that sounds like Microsoft is likely going to replace him asap.
From my experience with corporate speak that is actually very encouraging. Reading between the lines that sounds like Microsoft is likely going to replace him asap.
I'm betting that the games won't be directly launchable from steam, and will instead just be convenience buttons to open but battlenet and launch from there.
I hate games that do this sort of thing.
Wouldn't be surprised, just like rockstar and 2k's games, this is definitely gonna be the same way. Especially since they're saying you still need a battle.net account, it would make no sense for them to modify the games specifically for steam and add some sort of ingame login system only for the steam version. Seems like that would be a waste of time and money to me. But who knows, maybe they'll surprise us.
I mean both World of Warcraft can and Overwatch (the first one) could be launched through the .exe and you were presented with a login screen. You don't need to launch though the launcher. As for the other games I don't know.
Mike Ybarra seemed to suggest that there won’t be an intermediary launcher like with EA, Ubi, etc. Just a login then, presumably in-game? That’ll be good for the Steam Deck.
There's been situations in the past where Battle.net failed to fully log in your account but if you manually launched Overwatch while the launcher was open (so it passed that check) then OW itself could log in your account.
This suggests to me that this is feasible. It seems the login-code is part of the game, it doesn't just rely on the launcher to provide a checked and logged-in account to use.
I’m sure they’ll be directly launchable through Steam, but yes, Battle.net will still be required. They are being very clear about that part.
I still hate it too, but alas. Everybody wants their own layer on top of Steam, and to me it’s still better to be able to collect all my games in one launcher even if they silently boot through a second one. The real annoyance is the second layer of DRM / always on requirements these second layer launchers always add
If you don't mind the hour or two of setup, take a look at Playnite, which does this sort of thing "one level higher up".
It launches the actual launcher - like Steam or GOG or so - to play the game, then closes it again. It's really neat to have the entire library in one place, including indexing emulated games running on SCUMMVM, individually launched games, Steam, Epic, whatnot.
I’ve tried Playnite before but I didn’t like the interface. And the things I like most about Steam is the ‘ecosystem’ - tracking my achievements, playtime, and friend activity. Plus they typically work easier on my Deck that way.
I used to use GOG Galaxy 2.0 & loved it but they’ve seemingly abandoned it and all the integrations broke.
I'm very happy that the days of the PC launcher diaspora seem to be over, with more and more companies choosing to put their games (back) on Steam. EA, Ubisoft, and Bethesda have all attempted to jump ship before eventually returning -- and now Blizzard is joining for the first time. I used to manage different launchers back when I was on Windows and honestly wasn't too bothered by it, but when I switched to Linux, Steam became the only bucket I wanted to pile my games in. It's a genuine pain to get (and keep) other launchers working on Linux, much less get their games working correctly. Steam's Linux support, with a native launcher and built-in no-click Proton support for Windows games is genuinely unbeatable.
Unfortunately we still have to deal with stacking launchers, and I have no doubt that Blizzard games in Steam will just launch Battle.net which will then launch the game, but, honestly, even that's better than not having the game on Steam. One thing that would be great to see with the upcoming Battle.net releases would be a way for me to register my already owned games to my Steam account without me having to re-buy them. Neither Ubisoft nor EA does this, and I ended up rebuying a few things I already had on those platforms just to get copies of them underneath the umbrella of Steam's convenience.
Now, if changing to Linux made me disregard other launchers, the Steam Deck made them outright dead to me. It's possible to get non-Steam games working (Diablo IV, for example), but it's even more of a pain than on desktop. Just give me the game on Steam, please. My Deck demands it!
Interestingly enough, Crash Bandicoot 4 was a Battle.net exclusive for a while, before quietly releasing on Steam last year. It never made sense to me at the time -- not only does going to Bnet for a Crash Bandicoot game have a latent absurdness to it, but it also seemed like they were deliberately burying that version of the game. I'm someone who was interested in playing it but had no idea it had even released on PC because they only put it there.
It's been confirmed that it will launch directly through Steam. I've been having a lot of issues with Battle.net on Linux lately, so this is great news.
Another thing people often overlook when comparing launchers is regional pricing; Steam has very generous regional prices, while most other launchers just don't have them at all.
All I need now is for Bobby to be fired and I'll reactivate my blizz account
That's basically what's keeping me away from Blizzard, their awful management team that that knew about and allowed workplace harassment and discrimination. Who knows maybe they'll cash out and leave.
More than just him, there's a rotten core to the company that's perpetuated by all of the old leadership.
From my experience with corporate speak that is actually very encouraging. Reading between the lines that sounds like Microsoft is likely going to replace him asap.