Blizzard Entertainment confirmed that Overwatch 2 will make its way to Steam on August 10, the same day its next season, titled Invasion, begins.
Overwatch 2 has been available on PC since its October 4, 2022, early access launch, but until now players had to download Blizzard’s proprietary launcher, Battle.net, in order to play it. Although players will still need a Battle.net account that they can connect to Steam to play the game online, Overwatch 2 will be fully integrated into Valve’s popular launcher, with support for things like achievements, compatibility with Steam friends lists, and Steam game invites. This launch is also timed to happen alongside the start of Season 6: Invasion, which will introduce the first batch of PvE story missions to the game.
In a blog post on Blizzard’s website, the company confirms that this is actually just the start of a plan to bring more Blizzard games to Steam, stating that it will be “sharing more about potential other games coming to the platform when the time is right.” There aren’t plans to completely abandon Battle.net, though, with Blizzard Entertainment President Mike Ybarra saying in the same blog post that “Battle.net remains a priority for us now and into the future.”
Still, starting initiatives to bring Blizzard Entertainment games to more platforms makes a lot of sense ahead of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Overwatch 2’s Steam page is already live for those who want to wish list or bookmark it ahead of release.
Overwatch 2 is available for free right now across Battle.net, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch; Steam will be added to that lineup on August 10.
