Blizzard has no plans to turn Battle.net into a competitor to Steam and the Epic Games Store
Recently, Blizzard Entertainment announced that Cyberpunk 2077 and the remaster of The Witcher 3 would be available in its digital game store. Shortly after, the company's Senior Vice President Andrew Guerrero hurried to assure that Battle.net is not planning to actively expand its catalog and follow the path of larger stores.
The Witcher 3
"Of course, we are not trying to replicate the experience of Steam or the Epic Games Store. We see ourselves as a platform with our own audience. We have a core of dedicated fans who play Blizzard games and other similar projects. If it makes sense to offer them something interesting, we do it," Guerrero explained in an interview with Polygon.
Guerrero noted that Battle.net is not inherently designed for the regular mass release of new games from third-party developers. According to him, this is partly because Blizzard values gamers' time and does not want to overwhelm them with an abundance of content.
Cyberpunk 2077 and the remaster of The Witcher 3 are far from the only third-party games on Battle.net. The first such title was Destiny 2, which appeared in the store back in 2017 (and left in 2019). Following the deal between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, several projects from Xbox subsidiary studios also debuted there. Nevertheless, Battle.net is still primarily positioned as a platform with games developed by Blizzard.