Battle.net just got a total makeover

(Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment)

Battle.net, the app for all of Blizzard and Activision's different games, hasn't changed in almost eight years. That's a long time, but today Blizzard gave B.net some zhuzh with a big Spring Cleaning makeover in the form of Battle.net 2.0. And it's rolling out right now for North American users.

Battle.net 2.0 doesn't feel drastically different than its predecessor, but the layout is definitely an improvement. Instead of listing games on the left side, they're now arranged at the top, making a lot more space for trailers and official Blizzard news about your selected game. Probably my favorite thing about it, though, is that the friends list is now a permanent fixture on the right-hand side, and does a better job of showing what your pals are actually up to. In the old version, you had to click on an icon to bring up a separate friends list window, which is pretty clumsy to work with.

Blizzard also says Battle.net 2.0 is much more accessible. The entire thing can be navigated just using your keyboard, and it better supports screen readers. The color contrast is better too.

If you need a side-by-side comparison, here you go:

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Look, it's an app that you look at for maybe all of eight seconds each day, but I really like the new look and how efficiently it uses space.

Right now, Battle.net 2.0 is only available for some North American users, but Blizzard said everyone will be getting it in the coming weeks. If you're in North America and you don't automatically get the update, you can still try Battle.net 2.0 by accessing its beta version. Here's a quick rundown of how to do that:

Open up Battle.net
Click on the Blizzard logo in the top left of the window
Go to Settings
Go to Beta on the Settings window
Click the "Switch to Beta" button. It'll download the new version and automatically reboot.

If you're not in North America, you'll have to wait a little longer before trying Battle.net 2.0, but it'll be available soon.

With over 7 years of experience with in-depth feature reporting, Steven's mission is to chronicle the fascinating ways that games intersect our lives. Whether it's colossal in-game wars in an MMO, or long-haul truckers who turn to games to protect them from the loneliness of the open road, Steven tries to unearth PC gaming's greatest untold stories. His love of PC gaming started extremely early. Without money to spend, he spent an entire day watching the progress bar on a 25mb download of the Heroes of Might and Magic 2 demo that he then played for at least a hundred hours. It was a good demo.