For nearly twenty years, Blizzard has referred to their online service component as Battle.net. However, this may no longer be the case as Blizzard has announced that it will be retiring the “Battle.net” name within the next several months.
While the online service may no longer be called “Battle.net,” Blizzard has assured its customers that everything else regarding the company’s online platform will remain the same. Blizzard will be referring to the online part of their games as “Blizzard tech” instead, although whether or not the name may change over time remains to be seen.
Part of the reason why Blizzard has decided to drop the “Battle.net” name is due to the prevalence of multiplayer support these days than it was 20 years ago. According to Blizzard, there have been “occasional confusion and inefficiencies related to having two separate identities under which everything falls – Blizzard and Battle.net.” In short, Blizzard believes that the multiplayer support is so common these days, they no longer need to maintain a specific name for the multiplayer support.
Again, Blizzard will be dropping the “Battle.net” name over the course of the coming months, so the “Battle.net” name will slowly be phased out, instead of being removed completely.
Source: World of Warcraft