Blizzard Adds Voice Chat to Battle.net Launcher

Blizzard has added a voice chat feature to the Battle.net Launcher, which launches all of the developer’s games. Players are now no longer forced to use software such as TeamSpeak or Discord for voice chat with their friends.

The feature can be found immediately in the Battle.net Launcher. Players can currently only speak to friends and friends of friends. This means that the feature cannot be used to speak to the random players that allow users to play a multiplayer game. The functionality is therefore separate from the voice option in Overwatch, for example, with which players can speak with their random teammates.

As previously announced, the function itself will not be given a Battle.net name, but it will be called Blizzard Voice. Twenty years ago, when the Battle.net name came into use, it was less common for a developer to have their own platform than it is today. Since this is no longer so special and Blizzard prefers not to use two different brand names without a really good reason, the company is scrapping the Battle.net name. In the future, the Battle.net Launcher will probably just be called ‘Blizzard Launcher’.

Blizzard is not alone in offering voice chat on its platform. Steam and Origin, for example, also have this, but uPlay, for example, does not.