Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
The Battle.net client has been around for almost 25 years and has been one of Blizzard's longest-lasting legacies. It's hard to imagine it undergoing any sort of change. It's been 25 years, but on Thursday, Blizzard announced that Battle.net would receive its biggest front end update in years by making the jump to 2.0.
Blizzard is aiming for several quality-of-life improvements with Battle.net's 2.0 update. Look for a new layout that will allow users to arrange their games for easier access, a greater layout for news stories, and a revamped social pane that will make it easier to keep track of your friends. The new client will also have a handful of major accessibility improvements, including the ability to access with a keyboard, new screen reader support, and improved color contrast.
Looking at the interface, it has some similarities to other clients. The game library interface, in particular, looks close to what one would see from the NVIDIA GeForce Experience and the Epic Games Store. However, having the Friends List stickied on the right is a handy feature, as is the ability to search for active Chats and Groups. What's especially interesting is the top fo the game library where players can "Explore Blizzard Games" and "Explore Activision Games," potentially indicating that more games from the latter may be on the way. Or it could just be a dedicated Call of Duty tab, who knows?
Battle.net 2.0 is set to start rolling out in the weeks ahead, starting with North America and going from there. Blizzard states that they'll continue working on the client, rolling out improvements, bug fixes, and more over time. To learn more about Battle.net's changes and what players can expect to see, visit the Blizzard website. This is just the start of Blizzard's 2021, as BlizzConline is set to take place in four weeks.