Blizzard Brings Back the Battle.net Name Because No One Stopped Using It

ffronw

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Oct 24, 2013
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Blizzard Brings Back the Battle.net Name Because No One Stopped Using It

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1422/1422119.jpgBlizzard has renamed its app once again, bringing back the Battle.net name.

Last year, Blizzard rebranded its app [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/168462-Blizzard-Drops-the-Name-Battle-net] to remove the Battle.net name, simply calling it the "Blizzard App."

As you can imagine, changing the name of a service that gamers have been using for more than 20 years resulted in almost no one other than Blizzard using the new name. Even folks at Blizzard slipped up and used the name during the announcement that Destiny 2 would be available on the app [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/170397-Destiny-2-Gameplay-Trailer-PC-Version-On-Blizzard-Client#&gid=gallery_7393&pid=1]. Seeing how people weren't using the new name, Blizzard is making another change.

"When we announced that we'd be transitioning away from the Battle.net name for our online-gaming service, we suspected that the shift would be challenging," the company wrote in a post on its official blog [https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/blizzard/20972460/blizzard-battle-net-update]. "We understood that Battle.net stood for something special - it represents years of shared history and enjoyment, community and friendship, for all of us and our players."

Accordingly, Blizzard decided to go back to the Battle.net name. "After giving the branding change further consideration and also hearing your feedback, we're in agreement that the name should stay as well," the company wrote. The new name is Blizzard Battle.net, and there's a new logo (seen above).

Hopefully this will be the end of the name changes. No one stopped calling it Battle.net, so it's nice to have Blizzard back in line with the rest of us.



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PointlessKnowledge

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Well, duh.

The name change was so pointless, and no one was ever going to call it the "Blizzard App". They really should of noticed that. None of their fans that I saw liked the name change. It was always going to be Battle.net.
 

Hawki

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I'm not going to tell you that the name change was a stupid idea Blizz - everyone told you that. ;p
 

Fiz_The_Toaster

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Totally unsurprised by this.

Call the app anything else all you want, but it was always going to be Battle.net.

The name change was kinda unnecessary and stupid.
 

Blitsie

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Wait.....they initially dropped the Battle net name?! This is news to me!

I guess that really goes to show how well that worked out for them hahahaha
 

Paragon Fury

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You know what is hilarious?

This is pretty much an exact repeat of what happened with Heroes of the Storm. They insisted and insisted that Heroes wasn't a MOBA, that it shouldn't be called a MOBA and shouldn't be compared to other MOBAs because it was trying to be something different.

I think that lasted a year of literally no one doing it before Blizzard capitulated.
 

laggyteabag

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Paragon Fury said:
You know what is hilarious?

This is pretty much an exact repeat of what happened with Heroes of the Storm. They insisted and insisted that Heroes wasn't a MOBA, that it shouldn't be called a MOBA and shouldn't be compared to other MOBAs because it was trying to be something different.

I think that lasted a year of literally no one doing it before Blizzard capitulated.
Yeah, they insisted that it was actually a "Hero Brawler". Two teams of 5 players play unique heroes with a selection of basic abilities, and one ultimate ability, on multi-lane maps, where waves of AI controlled minions spawn, and the objective is to destroy the enemy's big building. Yep, sounds completely different to League and DotA to me.

Im pretty sure this happened around about the same time that Bungie declared that Destiny was not an MMO FPS, but was, in fact, a shared-world shooter... which, im pretty sure, means exactly the same thing.

Developers shouldn't be constrained to a particular genre when developing a game, but they just look dumb when they try to make it out to be some revolutionary new genre that nobody has ever seen before.
 

fix-the-spade

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I often wonder why companies look at extremely succesful, well entrenched brands and decide they need to change the name. Imagine if Apple suddenly decided to become Steve Technology, the world would think they'd gone mad.

Branding identifies, it doesn't describe.
Hawki said:
I'm not going to tell you that the name change was a stupid idea Blizz - everyone told you that. ;p
Actually I don't think anyone told Blizzard, I don't think anyone even acknowledged that Blizzard made the change.

I'm willing to bet that even within Blizzard there were conversations along the lines of,

So, I was looking a Battlenet last yesterday and...

...WOAH WOAH WOAH, you were looking at what?

Battlenet

It's called Blizzard App! Use the right name!

Ummm... the code still says Battlenet, the forums still call it Battlenet, all the devs call it Battlenet

Ok fine,

So I was looking at BATTLENET last night and it...
 

Pyrian

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fix-the-spade said:
I often wonder why companies look at extremely succesful, well entrenched brands and decide they need to change the name.
I'm convinced there are people in upper-level marketing who do this sort of churn in an attempt to justify their salaries.
 

FalloutJack

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Hey look, Blizzard lost at something. Well, that'll show 'em not to waste our time.
 

shrekfan246

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I'm not going to say that the name change was stupid, but it was certainly pointless. While everyone is still probably going to continue just calling it Battle.net, "Blizzard Battle.net" is probably a fine middle ground.
 

Canadamus Prime

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Pyrian said:
fix-the-spade said:
I often wonder why companies look at extremely succesful, well entrenched brands and decide they need to change the name.
I'm convinced there are people in upper-level marketing who do this sort of churn in an attempt to justify their salaries.
I honestly wouldn't be surprised.
 

Saltyk

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Yeah, the name change was pointless. Everyone knew it was Battle.net. No one was going to stop calling it that.

It'd be like Valve deciding to change the name of Steam. No one would stop calling it Steam. It's always been Steam. It's a part of the culture at this point. Changing the name would only confuse people at best.
 

Hawki

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Saltyk said:
It'd be like Valve deciding to change the name of Steam. No one would stop calling it Steam. It's always been Steam. It's a part of the culture at this point. Changing the name would only confuse people at best.
One might say that if Valve thought they could change the name of Steam, they'd be full of hot air to think they could get away with it.
 

FalloutJack

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Hawki said:
Saltyk said:
It'd be like Valve deciding to change the name of Steam. No one would stop calling it Steam. It's always been Steam. It's a part of the culture at this point. Changing the name would only confuse people at best.
One might say that if Valve thought they could change the name of Steam, they'd be full of hot air to think they could get away with it.

The rimshot! Don't forget the rimshot! You have to have a rimshot when you pun!
 

Hawki

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FalloutJack said:
Hawki said:
Saltyk said:
It'd be like Valve deciding to change the name of Steam. No one would stop calling it Steam. It's always been Steam. It's a part of the culture at this point. Changing the name would only confuse people at best.
One might say that if Valve thought they could change the name of Steam, they'd be full of hot air to think they could get away with it.

The rimshot! Don't forget the rimshot! You have to have a rimshot when you pun!
You just had to throw a spanner in the works didn't you? Do you have any idea what kind of fallout this will cause?

Oh well. Have to face the music I guess.
 

RJ 17

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I mean seriously, what the fuck did they expect? BattleNet has been around since Diablo (at least that was the first game I played with Battle.net...pretty sure that came out before SC). That's over 20 god damn years of BattleNet...did they actually think that their fans would be like "Ok, we're gonna start calling it the Blizzard App!"

BattleNet is what it has been known as for literally decades...no amount of corporate bullshit was going to change that.