Xbox CEO: Battle.net Won't Become Another Steam

Ever booted up Battle.net and thought, wait, is this turning into Steam? According to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, that's a hard no.

Speaking at an internal town hall (via Windows Central), Sharma addressed Blizzard's PC storefront head-on. Yes, The Witcher 3 just landed there thanks to a CD Projekt Red partnership. No, that doesn't mean Battle.net is about to start hoovering up every game in sight. In her words, "We will do it the right way for those communities."

That's not a solo take, either. Last month, Blizzard VP of product management and global insight Andrew Guerrero said the company isn't "trying to do the Steam or Epic Games Store thing." His reasoning? Blizzard already has its "audience" — a "passionate core of people that play Blizzard games and games similar to Blizzard." New titles only get picked up if they make sense for that crowd.

So what does Battle.net actually look like today? Mostly a home base for Blizzard's own lineup — World of Warcraft, Diablo 4 and friends. There are partner games in the mix too, like Call of Duty entries and Xbox Game Studios titles such as Avowed and Sea of Thieves. But compared to Steam or even Microsoft's Xbox PC store, it's a far pickier shop.

Here's the eyebrow-raiser: Sharma says Battle.net is already nearly retaining as many users as Steam. Not bad for a storefront that isn't trying to be a storefront for everyone. She also teased that the CD Projekt Red partnership will grow — carefully — so expect more curated additions rather than a flood.

The takeaway for you? Don't expect Battle.net to morph into a Steam clone with endless indie shovelware and daily flash sales. It's staying a tight, community-first space, and Blizzard seems happy to keep it that way.

Whether that careful approach pays off long-term is anyone's guess. Only time will tell.

What do you think — should Battle.net open the floodgates, or is a curated store the smarter play? Let us know in the comments.