Blizzard is giving its game launcher Battle.net a visual overhaul, the first major redesign for the platform in eight years. The new layout switches around many components in an effort to provide a more streamlined experience.
Originally launching back in 1996, Battle.net has always served as the online interface for Blizzard's various PC titles. Blizzard briefly dropped the Battle.net name in 2016, but quickly backtracked a few months later. Regardless of the name, the game launcher's basic layout has remained unchanged since 2013, until now
The new format shifts games from the left-hand sidebar to a single row of icons along the top of the window. This allows for the centrally-located game page to take up more space, which provides the latest news and info on titles like World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and the exclusive PC port of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. In addition, the friends and social chat bar has also been permanently attached to the window's right edge. This is a major departure from the feature being a separately opened app, similarly to how Steam's friend list functions.
Blizzard's screenshot of the new "Battle.net 2.0" reveals a few additionally interesting details. The revamped design shows the blue Battle.net logo has returned in the window's upper left corner. In the time Blizzard had dropped the Battle.net moniker several years ago, the original logo was replaced by the Blizzard logo. Despite the company backpedaling on the name change and rebranding to Blizzard Battle.net months later, the Blizzard logo has remained ever since. Many longtime gamers are excited to see that the 2.0 edition of Battle.net restores its original logo, likening it to a "return to form."
However, the new interface is currently only available to some users in North America. The game developer does plan to gradually roll out the update to other users over the course of the next few weeks. North American players who haven't yet received the update can use the beta version via the settings menu. Many fans are expecting the new Battle.net to be featured at the quickly-approaching BlizzCon, set to begin next month on February 19. The annual convention will be a free-t0-watch online event, dubbed "BlizzConline", and will feature the next big Diablo 4 update, as well as announcements for Overwatch 2 and other highly-anticipated titles.
Battle.net's new layout is sure to be a welcome update for the majority of Blizzard fans. Given that its a necessary interface for some of the most widely-played PC titles around, the facelift helps give the game launcher a more current look. In addition to the visual overhaul, many WoW players are also hoping for improved server stability, as World of Warcraft recently suffered another DDoS attack. Many players are hoping the ongoing issue is what Blizzard will tackle next.
Source: IGN