Overwatch Icon Appears In Battle.net Desktop Client; Don’t Panic
by JR Cook - 9 years ago show comments
Timed exceedingly well with this morning’s revelations at the media briefing at gamescom in Cologne, Germany, many users started reporting that the Overwatch icon has appeared in the Battle.net client.
After the desktop client was introduced, the addition of a game’s icon often meant that your account had been flagged to participate in alpha and/or beta testing for that game. That happened with both Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm, and plenty of people today have come to the conclusion that it was happening again with Overwatch.
However, when folks took to the WoW forums to talk about this (since Overwatch doesn’t currently have any discussion forums of its own), Support Forum Centaur Vrakthis had this to say in response:
Sorry for the confusion, Megahorn, the Desktop app was updated today to include the Overwatch section with a link to information on the game. Some folks are reporting an install or play option, which should not be available right now.
As the others mentioned Beta is planned for fall of this year still, so we’re a bit out from that.
Reading between the blue lines a bit, it’s clear what’s going on: instead of Blizzard using the desktop client as a repository of what games you have, Blizzard is shifting to a stance where the client shows you games you can potentially play. Given that every current Blizzard game is purchasable electronically if not outright free-to-play, it makes sense for the client to act as a landing station that would showcase all of Blizzard’s games instead of only the ones you have installed.
Yeah, it’s a marketing ploy, but on the possibility that you’re someone who doesn’t pay attention to Blizzard news and hasn’t heard of Overwatch, having it show up in your client might get you to at least watch the cinematic trailer, which could then gate you into becoming more interested in what the game has to offer. On the assumption that the game will be free-to-play, the more people Blizzard can invite into the game, the greater the likelihood that players will invest time and/or money into it, regardless of the financial model the game ultimately uses.
So set your minds at ease, heroes: there’s still no alpha or beta announcement, but all indications, from Vrakthis to yesterday’s investor call and all the way back to last year’s BlizzCon, point at a beta this fall. We’ll be in there soon, and now your client is ready.
Tell us what you think of this change in the comments.
I expect Founder’s packages to participate in beta to be sold soon(tm).