Blizzard is "transitioning away” from Battle.net but in name only

Blizzard is retiring Battle.net after 20 years, but only the branding.

According to a new blog post from the developer, the moniker Battle.net will be gradually phased out and eventually called, simply Blizzard tech.

"We’re going to be transitioning away from using the Battle.net name for our gaming service and the functionality connected to it,"reads the post. "Battle.net technology will continue to serve as the central nervous system for Blizzard games—nothing is changing in that regard. We'll just be referring to our various products and services using the Blizzard name instead."

Changes have already started taking place, with the addition of "Blizzard Streaming" and "Blizzard Voice," and more are on the way, says the firm.

"When we created Battle.net, the idea of including a tailored online-gaming service together with your game was more of a novel concept, so we put a lot of focus on explaining what the service was and how it worked, including giving it a distinct name. Over time, though, we’ve seen that there’s been occasional confusion and inefficiencies related to having two separate identities under which everything falls—Blizzard and Battle.net.

"Given that built-in multiplayer support is a well-understood concept and more of a normal expectation these days, there isn’t as much of a need to maintain a separate identity for what is essentially our networking technology."

The company will continue to "move forward with this change" over the next several months.

Blizzard.net launched alongside Diablo in 1996 as a chat and multiplayer matchmaking expanding over the years to what it encompasses today.