Blizzard drops Battle.net name

After 20 years, Blizzard is dropping the Battle.net name. The developer’s online portal will continue to function in the same way, but will be labeled differently in the future. An own portal is no longer so special that it deserves its own name, Blizzard says.

In a blog post, the studio announces that it will say goodbye to the Battle.net name. The studio states that 20 years ago, when Blizzard started Battle.net, it was special that a studio had its own portal and that is why it chose its own name at the time. Nowadays that is no longer special and it is at most confusing that the studio uses two brand names; Blizzard and Battle.net.

The studio will therefore increasingly use its own brand name for the services that Battle.net provides. Development has already started, because Battle.net’s latest services, Blizzard Streaming and Blizzard Voice, already bear the studio’s name. What name Blizzard will use for what is now known as Battle.net is unknown. Earlier there were rumors that the name would become Blizzard Tech, but this has been denied by Blizzard.

Battle.net was launched in November 1996, at the time of the first Diablo game. In 2009, Blizzard announced Battle.net 2.0, which is used for the studio’s most recent games. What became known as Battle.net Classic is used for older games from the studio, such as Diablo II, Warcraft III and StarCraft. It is not known when the name Battle.net will expire.