Blizzard is dropping the Battle.net name

Say your goodbyes to "Battle.net." Blizzard Entertainment said today that it will be "transitioning away from" using the Battle.net name when referring to its online multiplayer game service. In a post on the World of Warcraft website, Blizzard said it’s dropping the term Battle.net over occasional confusion caused by the name.

"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," Blizzard wrote. "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."

Blizzard said existing Battle.net tech "will continue to serve as the central nervous system for Blizzard games." The company will refer to its online and multiplayer technology more simply as "Blizzard tech" (e.g. Blizzard Streaming, Blizzard Voice).

Battle.net launched in 1996 alongside the original Diablo and offered players chat rooms and multiplayer game listings. Blizzard launched a major revamp for Battle.net, called Battle.net 2.0, in 2009. Many of the company’s websites and forums are still hosted on Battle.net domains.