This week Blizzard announced that it was bringing Diablo IV to Steam, which is Valve’s PC storefront and the most universally preferred game client for PC gamers to launch and play their favorite titles. It’s an interesting decision but not really an unprecedented one.
Blizzard is part of Activision after all and Activision began bringing some of its more popular games to Steam last year. This is of course referring to the launch of Modern Warfare II, which came to PC players via both Battle.net and Steam. Now Blizzard is following in those footsteps with Diablo IV. It’s a shame the game didn’t launch on Steam earlier this year. But better late than never.
Naturally, if you want to play the game on Steam you’ll need to purchase it there. If you already own it on Battle.net, your ownership of the game doesn’t transfer over. So you have to buy the game twice if you want to switch to the Steam platform. Diablo IV does have cross-progression though so at least all of your stuff will still be there.
As for when the game will arrive, it’s dropping on October 17 so there’s not much of a wait left. Just another couple of weeks.
Diablo IV on Steam will support Steam-specific features
The benefit to having the game on Steam will be the ability to interact with Steam’s robust feature set. Including but not limited to access to your Steam friends list. Blizzard says you’ll be able to use this friends list to invite people to games. You’ll also have access to Steam achievements. And for achievement hunters this feature can add some extra replay value to the game. Which does help longevity for those players.
The timing of the Steam release is likely right around the time Call of Duty players will see the arrival of some of Diablo’s content in Modern Warfare II and Warzone. The Haunting event begins in the middle of the month and will include not only Lilith and Inarius as operators, but players will have to descend into hell and fight the Butcher. A staple boss in the Diablo series.