24 years ago, Blizzard reportedly shot down a pitch to make its own version of Steam by turning Battle.net into "a digital store for a variety of PC games"

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Meanwhile, Blizzard started bringing its games to Steam last year

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(Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment)

Update - October 15: In a blog post, Blizzard veteran Patrick Wyatt clarified that "the original idea for Battle.net, the business model (free), the name Battle.net itself, and the original programming implementation, were all Mike O’Brien." Likewise, the pitch to turn Battle.net into a digital for other PC games also came from O'Brien.

In another timeline, Blizzard may have its own version of Valve's PC-dominating Steam store, but in our timeline it reportedly rejected a pitch back to expand its Battle.net launcher into a broader PC gaming storefront.

O'Brien would go on to join Wyatt and Jeff Strain to co-found Guild Wars studio ArenaNet after leaving Blizzard, and as we now know, the idea of a Battle.net store never made it past the company's upper management. You've got to wonder if someone in the company's C-suite was kicking themselves once again last year when Blizzard began bringing a selection of its games to Steam, now including Overwatch 2, Diablo 4, and the new Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred expansion. 

Schreier's book, citing interviews from some 350 current and former Blizzard employees, has turned up some surprising anecdotes, from canceled games like sci-fi Diablo and a Warcraft take on Helldivers to a short-lived Star Wars RTS concept that eventually became StarCraft. 

Believe it or not, Blizzard's in good company: BioWare also "missed our big opportunity to be Steam" and sell The Witcher, with one dev saying "we’re kicking ourselves about it now." 

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.