Welcome to a New Global Battle.net

[Stoy]

Welcome to a New Global Battle.net

We’re breaking down barriers.

We’ve always envisioned Battle.net as a place for players to connect, collaborate, and play their favorite games. Now, we’re realizing that dream on a truly global level.

“When Battle.net first came out, the purpose was to deliver a connected, multiplayer experience for a single title,” says Arron Goolsbey, VP of Platform Engineering for Battle.net. “Fast-forward 10 to 15 years, and Battle.net had evolved into a service that spanned all Blizzard games but was still constructed with the primary notion that players would mostly play with others within their region. The internet has come a long way in the last 10 years, enabling global and cross-platform experiences with high levels of quality. So now, Battle.net is evolving once again.”

Starting today, friends lists from different territories will be merged into one*, so you’ll no longer need to switch regions in Battle.net to talk to your buddies on the other side of the planet. “As Global Battle.net rolls out, players around the world will be able to come together all across the larger Blizzard ecosystem without any hurdles for the first time ever,” says Diana Hubbard, Platform Design Manager. In doing so, they will be able to effortlessly expand their friendships, groups, and communities—paving the way for forging new bonds over our present and future epic gaming experiences. This is just the first step, and it will only get better from here.” To accent this new era of global gaming and social connectivity on Battle.net, we’ve also updated our logo.


“We realized some time ago that our players would be better served by a global Battle.net that did away with the concept of regions,” says Jeff Allison, Lead Product Manager for Battle.net. “But breaking down these barriers was a significant engineering task. Now that we’ve done it, we look forward to a future where all Battle.net players can communicate and game together no matter where they are.”

Battle.net’s global updates also include cross-platform functionality. This has given our game developers the ability to let you play with others between PC and console seamlessly. Overwatch players will be the first to experience these new cross-play capabilities; for more information, check out this blog.

“You will be able to make friends anywhere as games published on Battle.net begin to utilize this evolved experience,” says Goolsbey. “We look forward to a future where billions of players worldwide can make friends and play together, regardless of where they are and what device they play on.”

These backend updates to Battle.net will also enable developers to build even more globally connected experiences for our players in the future, so stay tuned!

[GnomeEU]

Will there be an opt out option for console players?
Controller vs mouse comes to mind.

[Lora]

if this ends up extending to WoW at some point i'll be impressed.

[Crimson Spears]

I suppose it makes sense for a messaging system but their are rather large latency issues already... I can't see this extending to gameplay in anything but a negative manner. I suppose for Hearthstone it could work.

[Asrialol]

Uh, Overwatch console vs PC players? Jesus.

[Paetolus]

Full article says you can opt out of crossplay. Hopefully they'll add an option to only opt out of PC crossplay for console players.

[Soisoisoi]

Full article says you can opt out of crossplay. Hopefully they'll add an option to only opt out of PC crossplay for console players.

Why only for console players? You probably don't want to be stuck with a bunch of console players on your team, either.

[P for Pancetta]

Why only for console players? You probably don't want to be stuck with a bunch of console players on your team, either.

I think he means that he wants to play vs other console players.

As in the opt out opts you out from all forms off crossplay but he only wants to opt out from pc players.

[Enter Name Here]

... but we will never let you play with players from the opposite faction because we want your precious transfer money!

[DazManianDevil]

I never got into Overwatch, is console vs PC that bad?

[Etamalgren]

So will we finally be able to play on WoW's EU servers with a US WoW account?

[Varolyn]

I never got into Overwatch, is console vs PC that bad?

Shooters in general favor Keyboard an mouse/PC players far more than console players just due to how much quicker and easier it is to aim with a keyboard in mouse. The only exception is Halo MCC, because those games were console games long before they were ported to PC, and the controller aim assist is extremely generous for Halo.

[Echeyakee]

Anyone else thinks it was needlessly grandiose way to say "You can send chat messages to people across the internet"? I'm sure it was a grand project to achieve that in a system not designed to do so, but that does not make the outcome impressive.

Good thing on cross play, although not sure how many people care about cross play in an FPS.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Why did they wait 5 years after launch, long after the vast majority of players moved on from the game, to finally implement crossplay?

[Igzorn]

So will we finally be able to play on WoW's EU servers with a US WoW account?

it would be a dream come true indeed.

[Daedius]

And soon, WoW on Consoles and Mobile to Crossplay with!

[SniperCT]

Full article says you can opt out of crossplay. Hopefully they'll add an option to only opt out of PC crossplay for console players.

From what I was reading it'll work exactly like Apex Legends, which implemented cross play earlier this year.

If a console and PC player group up, they end up in PC lobbies. If a console player is by themselves, they'll play with other consoles with no PC players.

There's no way for a PC player to join a console lobby.

[Yizu]

If a console and PC player group up, they end up in PC lobbies. If a console player is by themselves, they'll play with other consoles with no PC players.

There's no way for a PC player to join a console lobby.

Well there should be an option to also join the console lobby if i opt to use a gamepad, i actually tried it one time when i was sick, playing mercy/moira/rein is not that bad

[Waynhim]

So does this entail that I eventually can import/transfer my classic US toons to my EU-account for my PvP title?

[Frozenbeef]

On the other end of the spectrum....Are they giving pc players the same aim assist that console players get? (I can't aim to save my life)