Blizzard has issued an update to its Battle.net launcher that lets you add friends from around the world — though its own games will still be region-locked.
In an update added on June 9, Blizzard removed restrictions from the Battle.net launcher that prevented players from adding friends outside of their home region (thanks, Wowhead).
Any friends that you do add that come from another region will have their location listed in your friends list, under their user name. Despite these steps forward, you’re still unable to play with friends from overseas regions, though (mostly thanks to the regional servers that Blizzard makes use of in its high-profile multiplayer games).
“Battle.net is a place for players to engage with their games and connect with each other. Now, we’re taking those connections global!” the company said in its latest patch notes for Battle.net. It also said:
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Starting June 8, 2024, your friends in Europe, Americas, and Asia will be merged into a global friends list.
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You can chat, create groups, and see what your friends are playing–all in one place.
There’s no word on when Blizzard may allow players to join games with players from other regions, but with this update, there seems to be renewed hope across multiple Blizzard communities that – someday – the international cordons will come down.
We recently heard that Blizzard lost around 2 million players during the last financial quarter, so it seems the company needs to do whatever it can to attract new fans – or tempt lapsed players back.