Diablo IV‘s second season, Season of Blood, is upon us this October 18th, and with that, the game will also see its debut on Steam! If I’m correct, this is the first time a Blizzard game has made another storefront other than Battle.net its home. But what happens to those who have already purchased the game on Battle.net for the PC or on consoles such as the Xbox Series X|S and the PS5, and would like to enjoy things like Steam achievements and inviting friends from their Steam friends list to play in-game? Well you’ll have to buy the game… again!
Yup, Steam and Battle.net are two different storefronts, albeit for the PC. So if you already own a copy on Battle.net, you need to purchase a copy on Steam if you want to play on Steam. However, you still get the benefit of cross-play and cross-save across all platforms, so it’s not like you’ve to play all over again, not unlike a certain Diablo III: Eternal Collection on the Nintendo Switch.
In any case, for gamers who own multiple platforms, I guess that there are occasions that you may actually need to buy the same game multiple times, for different platforms for different reasons. Sometimes, it can be as simple as transitioning from games in traditional physical media such as CD-ROM or DVDs to their digital versions. For example, I’ve the physical disc versions of Blizzard and Westwood titles such as StarCraft II, Diablo III and Command and Conquer. But these days, it’s digital all the way, hence the second purchase.
Speaking of Diablo III, regular followers of this blog would know that I’ve spent an unreasonable amount of time on the game. It was a day-one purchase for me, having pre-ordered the physical copy of the game, and I must have spent a few hundred hours on the game. I replayed the game, having bought the digital copy with its expansion, Reaper of Souls. And then, simply because I wanted to play the game on-the-go, I bought the Diablo III: Eternal Collection for the Nintendo Switch!
Buying the Nintendo Switch version of the game had the added benefit of experiencing the game with a controller, something that isn’t available on the PC version of the game. At the same time, the Switch version had a dodge function which was revelatory and while it changed my play-style, it became my preferred method of playing D3. I ended up putting in triple-digits into the game, since like I mentioned earlier, D3 on the Switch does not support cross-saves.
I also ended up buying Fallout 3 twice. The first time being for the PlayStation 3 with most of its expansions, including Broken Steel. That game was a masterpiece and with few hundred of hours in, it was the basis of the Capital Wasteland Wanderer articles on this website. I ended up buying a copy of Fallout 3 – Game of the Year Edition on Steam for a song after building my Project 2021 gaming rig. I would be honest, it was a nostalgia purchase but I ended up putting in 50+ hours in that version of the game
The same pattern repeated itself for Fallout 4, first for the PlayStation 4 and then the PC (with all the DLC trimmings). Those games have a total of over 500 hours invested in them. So as a consumer, it seems that my purchases are mainly driven by 1. changes in the way games are now distributed, 2. nostalgia and 3. opportunity to consolidate the main game with its DLCs (and for a cheaper price). Check out my list of games with multiple purchases:
- StarCraft – PC CD-ROM and Battle.net
- WarCraft III – PC CD-ROM and Battle.net
- Command and Conquer – PC CD-ROM and as part of a collection from EA.
- Diablo II – PC CD-ROM and Battle.net
- Diablo II Remastered – Battle.net and Nintendo Switch
- Diablo III – PC CD-ROM, Battle.net and Nintendo Switch
- Fallout III – PlayStation 3 and PC
- Fallout IV – PlayStation 4 and PC
- Grand Theft Auto V – PlayStation 4 and PC
I’m still contemplating whether to get Diablo IV on Steam. While the Steam achievements and the game being Steam Deck “verified” are tempting propositions, my main concern is paying full-price for the 2nd time to experience the same thing again. I’m also looking forward to get Red Dead Redemption for the Nintendo Switch, having played it on the PS3, and that also seems to be suffering from a USD 50 price tag.
