Blizzard Brings Back Battle.net Name After Realizing Its Rebranding Mistake
It is said that hindsight is 20/20, and with the benefit of being able to look back, Blizzard realized that its plan to transition away from the Battle.net brand of its online gaming service was a mistake. Of course, the online community is also great at pointing out mistakes. As Blizzard quickly learned, there is too much history behind the Battle.net name to toss it aside, and so it has decided to bring it back.
"Battle.net is the central nervous system for Blizzard games and the connective tissue that has brought Blizzard players together since 1996. The technology was never going away, but after giving the branding change further consideration and also hearing your feedback, we’re in agreement that the name should stay as well. Take it from the developer formerly known as Silicon & Synapse, and Chaos Studios, names are important too," Blizzard said.
Blizzard knew it would be "challenging" to move away from a brand with so much history behind it.The decision last September to drop the Battle.net name was born out of good intentions—Blizzard sought to clear up "confusion and inefficiencies" from having two separate identities, 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 at the time.
Gamers with emotional ties to the Battle.net brand let their feelings be known after Blizzard made the announcement. Many felt it was an ill-advised decision made by upper-level management without an understanding of gaming and the long history behind Blizzard.net, which dates back to the 1990s. Others voiced concerns about allocating resources towards rebranding rather than fixing bugs in games.
Though Blizzard is relenting on the issue, it still has to deal with its initial concern of juggling two brands. To do that, Blizzard said it will be connecting "Blizzard" and "Battle.net" in its logo for the service and will refer to it in print as Blizzard Battle.net. That seems like a fair compromise to us.
"Battle.net is the central nervous system for Blizzard games and the connective tissue that has brought Blizzard players together since 1996. The technology was never going away, but after giving the branding change further consideration and also hearing your feedback, we’re in agreement that the name should stay as well. Take it from the developer formerly known as Silicon & Synapse, and Chaos Studios, names are important too," Blizzard said.
Blizzard knew it would be "challenging" to move away from a brand with so much history behind it.The decision last September to drop the Battle.net name was born out of good intentions—Blizzard sought to clear up "confusion and inefficiencies" from having two separate identities, 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 at the time.
Gamers with emotional ties to the Battle.net brand let their feelings be known after Blizzard made the announcement. Many felt it was an ill-advised decision made by upper-level management without an understanding of gaming and the long history behind Blizzard.net, which dates back to the 1990s. Others voiced concerns about allocating resources towards rebranding rather than fixing bugs in games.
Though Blizzard is relenting on the issue, it still has to deal with its initial concern of juggling two brands. To do that, Blizzard said it will be connecting "Blizzard" and "Battle.net" in its logo for the service and will refer to it in print as Blizzard Battle.net. That seems like a fair compromise to us.
