Skip to main content

Choose wisely: You can now change your terrible Blizzard BattleTag

blizzard ending battlenet overwatch ana guide screenshot
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Your Overwatch skills are out of this world, and you can play with the best in Hearthstone, but your “LinkinParkRulez” BattleTag is holding you back from ever getting the respect you deserve. Thankfully, Blizzard is finally giving you the option to change it for free.

Starting now, any Battle.net user — the same system is used for games like Heroes of the Storm, World of Warcraft, and Overwatch — will be able to change their BattleTag username one time for free. Blizzard offered a similar name change back when Overwatch launched in May, though it appeared to only be a one-time opportunity.

If you need to change your BattleTag again, however, you’ll have to pay $10. Xbox Live offers a similar service, while the PlayStation Network doesn’t let users change their PSN ID at all — their only option is to start from scratch.

Because the BattleTag is also assigned an identification number, you’re free to choose the same name as another user. Your friends list will also remain intact following the change, though it’s unclear if they’ll be automatically notified of your name change.

Blizzard’s BattleTag naming policy is slightly stricter than those available from other services. While you’re free to use numbers, your BattleTag cannot start with one, and it has to be between three and 12 characters in length. No spaces are allowed, either, which leaves “Leeroy Jenkins” completely out of the question.

Even if you choose to play Overwatch on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, your BattleTag can still be carried over. Though it won’t be shown to other players in-game, it does give you some additional digital rewards in games like Diablo III.

Are you going to change your BattleTag, or are you satisfied with the one you’re using. Let us know in the comments!

Editors' Recommendations

Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
Your iPhone can now guide you to your lost AirPods Pro
AirPods Pro resting on an iPhone with open charging case nearby.

There's good news for folks who routinely misplace their AirPods: Thanks to iOS 15 and a firmware update that started rolling out on October 6, your iPhone can guide you to within a foot or so of your missing true wireless buds. The new capability is baked into Apple's Find My app and works with the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max, but not Apple's regular AirPods.

In the past, if you wanted to locate your missing AirPods, your iPhone could certainly point you to their last known location, and even provide directions on a map. But when it came time to actually locating that errant earbud, all you could do was trigger the "play sound" feature and hope that they weren't buried so deeply in between the couch cushions that you wouldn't be able to hear them. Now, the Find My app can give you a radar-like interface that actually guides you toward your headphones using a three-level proximity indicator.

Read more
Now you can chat with music legends from the comfort of your couch
chat with a music legend from the comfort of your couch nile rodgers virtual interview

Nile Rodgers: Waiting for your questions ... Forever Holdings

A new kind of virtual experience could revolutionize how music stars and other famous folks interact with their fans.

Read more
Got a song you love on your Echo? Alexa users can now share it with friends
Amazon Echo Studio Alexa Smart Speaker

How often are you listening to the radio when a song comes on and you think, "My best friend would love this?" Thanks to Alexa's new music sharing feature, you don't have to try to remember the name of the song. If you're listening to music through Alexa and hear a song you know someone would like, just say "Hey Alexa, share this song with ____."

Provide Alexa with the name of a contact and she will send the song to that person. They can then listen to the music through their own Echo device or through the Alexa app and send a reaction to let you know what they thought of it.

Read more