Diablo IV on PC Game Pass Will Require Battle.net Launcher

After Microsoft completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard in October, Diablo IV will be the first Activision Blizzard game to launch on Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass tomorrow, March 28. If more Activision Blizzard games are expected to come to Game Pass later this year, we finally know how PC Game Pass members will be able to download these games.

Indeed, Activision Blizzard games are available on Blizzard’s Battle.net launcher, which Microsoft now owns, but they’re not on the Microsoft Store on Windows 11 and Windows 10. So, Microsoft has integrated its Xbox app on PC with Battle.net, and the game launcher will be required to install Diablo IV (and likely future Activision Blizzard games) with a PC Game Pass subscription.

When trying to install Diablo IV from the Xbox app on PC, PC Game Pass members will be invited to install Battle.net and connect a Battle.net account to their Microsoft account. Once the connection is made, the installation of Diablo IV will go forward.

Overall, this is similar to how games from the EA Play library (which are available for free with PC Game Pass) need to be installed via the EA Desktop app. The Xbox app for PC also integrates with Ubisoft Connect for installing Ubisoft games in the PC Game Pass library.

Diablo IV is the first game in the series to support cross-progression and cross-play multiplayer via Battle.net accounts. The Battle.net platform has been around since 1996, and it seems like it will coexist with Microsoft’s Xbox app for PC. The latter is still lackluster compared to more established game launchers, but Phil Spencer recently suggested that Microsoft was still looking to provide a better “Xbox on PC” experience on Windows-based gaming handhelds like the Asus Rog Ally and the Lenovo Legion Go.