Blizzard's Battle.net desktop launcher shown in first footage of beta

The first beta footage of Blizzard's Battle.net launcher has appeared online, courtesy of Starcraft 2 commentator Husky . What he shows is a basic, but characteristically slick integrated desktop launcher for World of Warcraft , Diablo III , and Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm , allowing players to install, launch, and get updates from all three games from the comfort of an executable that lives inside their computer.

Husky's superb use of the phrase "super-poopy" aside, we don't see anything particularly notable in the video, beyond the further confirmation that the launcher is continuing its slow push into existence. Inevitably it's feature set will get beefed up before an official launch. While the centralised hub is nice, a few links that redirect to a browser aren't a particularly strong justification for merging of separate game launchers.

Phil Savage
Editor-in-Chief

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.

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