The companies announced today that a major step in their ongoing collaboration will begin later this month with the integration of Facebook Login in Blizzard's PC games. This will enable players to sign up for and log in to games such as World of Warcraft, Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone, Diablo III, StarCraft II, and Blizzard's most recent release, Overwatch, using their Facebook accounts.
Adding Facebook Login will pave the way for new social functionality in Blizzard games while highlighting Facebook's capabilities as a platform for sharing, viewing, and discussing AAA game content. As an example, Blizzard is in the process of incorporating Facebook's Live API in order to create its own "Go Live" streaming functionality for its games. When this functionality is implemented, players will for the first time be able to livestream their Blizzard-gaming sessions directly to their Facebook timelines, and friends will be able to subscribe and be notified when new streams are available.
"Blizzard games are best when played with friends, so it's important to us to provide our players with features and services that make it easy and fun to share their experiences with each other," said Gio Hunt, executive vice president of corporate operations at Blizzard Entertainment. "We're working closely with Facebook on this integration for Overwatch, as well as our other games, and we look forward to sharing further details on our plans as development progresses."
As part of the collaboration between the two companies, Blizzard recently hosted multiple livestreams via Facebook. The first series of streams centered on Heroes of the Dorm, Blizzard's collegiate tournament featuring its popular team-brawler Heroes of the Storm. Last week, Blizzard hosted a livestreamed launch event for Overwatch on Facebook.
"Blizzard has a passionate community of players, and an incredible track record for launching innovative and high-quality gaming experiences," said Leo Olebe, global games partnerships director at Facebook. "Our collaboration on Overwatch demonstrates Facebook's commitment to partnering with AAA game companies, while further empowering Blizzard gamers to connect and share the content they're most passionate about with the friends they play with around the world."