There are many gamers happy about the StarCraft II beta going live today. Integral to the StarCraft II experience, however, is the revamped Battle.Net, Blizzard's proprietary equivalent to Xbox Live, to be incorporated in all Blizzard games. While talking with Blizzard co-founder and senior VP Frank Pearce at DICE 2010 right around the time the StarCraft II beta was going live (it happened while we were talking), I asked him what Blizzard's ambitions are for the future. Where is Blizzard in five, 10 years?
Pearce is an ambitious man.
"For me, I think about the web 2.0 experience and all the people that are connecting with each other around the world on sites like Facebook," he said, "and I would like Blizzard's Battle.Net to be the equivalent in the gaming space. But that's pretty ambitious."
If Battle.Net doesn't make it that far, he does have a backup plan he'd be happy with, though.
"I would be very, very satisfied if Battle.Net was that just for Blizzard games and the Blizzard community," he said. "The Blizzard community is really what's most important to us, anyway."
Stay tuned for much more from Pearce and other gaming luminaries from DICE this week and next. For a comprehensive look at G4's DICE 2010 coverage, make sure to check this page. And for more on the Starcraft II beta and Battle.Net launch, check out our exclusive videos.
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Comments
Displaying 1–9 of 9
Raverenz51
Valve announced in January that they have 25 Million users on steam. Do you really think that it is impossible for Blizzard with World of Warcraft, Warcraft series, Starcraft series and Diablo series to have more users? Besides, why are we arguing about gaming facebooks? Its not about being the best, its about delivering the best quality and entertainment to their customers.
MrSword1
Sorry Blizzard. Steam has got that position filled. As far as social networking though gaming goes, Steam can not be beaten.
Apache657
how about being the youporn of gaming?
Blue_Vortex
I'm sorry Blizzard but Steam is already the facebook of gaming, but nice try, maybe you could be the myspace of gaming.
V_Translanka
I don't really like MMOs or RTSs...and I already use PlayFire as my gaming Facebook...>_>
JimboG
If Blizzard gave Battle.net the ability for users to create their own web-pages like Facebook with personal status updates and allowed it to interface with other games besides those developed by Blizzard, I could seriously see it becoming the gaming-equivalent of Facebook, periodically posting what game you're playing, how long you've been playing, what portion of the game you're on, etc.
GohanEgret
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Battle.NET is Activision Blizzard's backdoor play into the digital distribution market currently controlled by Steam and others.
SteveKB
no I will not join. IT"S A TRAP@!
Shabs83
Isn't that what Steam is?
I always keep Steam running, and it's more likely I'll chat with friends on it than MSN or Facebook, etc.
Displaying 1–9 of 9
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