Blizzard have revealed that they wish to re-brand their Battle.net services on their online platforms.
When was this name change decided?
Late last month Blizzard announced that it plans to step away from its “Battle.net” name for their online services and platforms. This news comes after 20 years with this name, dating back to the first ever Diablo in 1996. It seems that they feel the Battle.net is an outdated name for their online platforms and wish to revamp and modernize to catch up with the times.
IGN news run through Blizzards announcement
Why is Blizzard changing the Battle.net name?
Blizzard has mentioned over the years their desire to change, as the Battle.net does not clearly relate to the Blizzard Entertainment company, and has caused a bit of confusion to some people. When this name was first proposed, Blizzard thought it would be a novel idea to have a different concept name for their services to the online world, as oppose to relating the name “Blizzard Entertainment” into the name. Over time this novel appeal has been lost and created a lot of inconveniences for having two different names by the same company.
A quote from the official website states:
“When we created Battle.net, the idea of including a tailored online-gaming service together with your game was more of a novel concept, so we put a lot of focus on explaining what the service was and how it worked, including giving it a distinct name. Over time, though, we’ve seen that there’s been occasional confusion and inefficiencies related to having two separate identities under which everything falls—Blizzard and Battle.net. Given that built-in multiplayer support is a well-understood concept and more of a normal expectation these days, there isn’t as much of a need to maintain a separate identity for what is essentially our networking technology.”
When will this change happen?
This change in name to their online services will not happen all at once, their Diablo and World of Warcraft products will slowly be changed over the next few months. I expect this to be completed by the end of this year, or beginning of next.
Blizzards iconic characters stand behind their Battle.net banner.
What will the new name be?
Quite simply, Battle.net will be known as Blizzard. Likewise to all the services they provide on their platforms. We will see a lot Blizzard this and Blizzard that names, for example; there already exists Blizzard Steaming and Blizzard Voice.
Will this make things more confusing, because there will be a lot of services under different names, but with one thing in common - Blizzard? I don’t know, but at least it removes any confusion and everyone knows what is Blizzard related and what isn’t.
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