It's over, folks, Battle.net is going down the pipe to where things that are no longer needed are sent to be forgotten. The popular name for Blizzard's online service will be changed and replaced with a new one in the near future.

For the moment, we're not sure what Blizzard will call its online service, but one can almost be certain the name "Blizzard" will be in the title somewhere.

Battle.net first came on the scene back in 1996 and slowly grew from there. It's the place folks go to when they want to play World of Warcraft or Diablo with friends. It's the same service that powers Overwatch and Hearthstone, but worry not, these games are going nowhere.

"When we created Battle.net, the idea of including a tailored online-gaming service together with your game was more of a novel concept, so we put a lot of focus on explaining what the service was and how it worked, including giving it a distinct name," Blizzard wrote in a blog post.

The reason for the change is possible confusion. Some gamers might be wondering why Blizzard's online service is called Battle.net, and as such, the company doesn't want this to continue and would rather have a name that is more streamlined.

That's the proof right there that Battle.net will be changed to Blizzard, or something similar, we'll just have to wait to find out.

Time will tell if this move is a good one. Many view Battle.net as a well-established service, and we're not certain how they will take it knowing that the name will be replaced with something else soon.

This has been a good year for Blizzard, so one could see why the company has decided to make several changes. Overwatch is a huge hit and World of Warcraft continues to make money.

Blizzard also released a companion app for World of Warcraft known as World of Warcraft: Legion Companion. The app is designed to aid players in their adventures, but don't go on expecting much from it.

To make things more interesting, both Overwatch and Hearthstone can be streamed on Facebook right now. A great addition, a move that could put Twitch in a tight position seeing as Facebook is the largest social network on the web with over a billion active users.

Nonetheless, not everything has gone well for Blizzard this year. The Battle.net servers came under attack recently and was knocked offline.

Photo: Gustavo da Cunha Pimenta | Flickr