'Starcraft 2' Will Soon Be Free-To-Play
Seven years after it was released, "Starcraft 2" will soon be a free-to-play title. Blizzard Entertainment announced its plans to release its first campaign for free at BlizzCon 2017 in an effort to bring the real-time strategy game to a broader audience.
Speaking to Gamespot, production director Tim Morten talked about the effects of the game becoming a free-to-play title. He also talked about what this means for the development team as well as the future of the game as a whole.
"We had 'Wings of Liberty,' plus two expansions; we've had a lot of post-launch content. I think there's a lot of confusion about what you need to play 'Starcraft 2,'" he said. "This just simplifies all of that, and gets the message out loud and clear: that you just download the game and play. Obviously, we love the game, so we just want to share it as broadly as we can."
Get Our Latest News for FREE
According to Morten, talks about the move to a free-to-play model have been going on for a while. One aspect of these conversations was how to make these changes palatable to veteran players who've had to pay in order to enjoy the game.
For starters, it's only the "Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty" that will be free to download. Players still need to pay in order to access the "Heart of the Swarm" and "Legacy of the Void" expansions. As for those who purchased Wings of Liberty, they will be able to access the "Heart of the Swarm" campaign free of charge as their reward. There are also digital rewards for players who bought all three expansions in order to show that they are veterans of the "Starcraft 2" community.
Co-op players will also be able to use three Commanders completely free—Raynor, Kerrigan, and Artanis—while others will be free up to level 5 after which they will need to be purchased individually. Additional single-player campaigns will also be available for purchase at $15 each as well as other "premium upgrades" like announcer packs, special skins, and War Chests, all of which can be applied to all modes. Blizzard currently has no plans to introduce a secondary currency to the game.
While Blizzard expects a surge in the game's player base with the move to a free-to-play business model, they are also proud to say that the game's community has been a stable one. But with the barrier to entry now lowered, there might be another surge players similar to what it experienced when it launched back in 2010. With more new content set to be released in the near future, now is probably the best time to dive into the iconic real-time strategy game.
"Starcraft 2" will be free to download this Nov. 14, 2017.
