Blizzard has announced that the studio is winding down StarCraft II’s active development. The game will continue to get technical support and will cycle through events, but new content updates and DLC creation will cease. According to Blizzard’s Rob Bridenbecker, they will also continue to support the esports community through their official partnerships with ESL Gaming and GSL.
We know some of our players have been looking forward to some of the things we’re moving away from, but the good news is this change will free us up to think about what’s next, not just with regard to StarCraft II, but for the StarCraft universe as a whole.
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, the first of three main campaign episodes for the game, launched in July of 2010. That campaign went free-to-play in November 2017.
That’s gameplay from the just-launched mod, The Curse of Tristram: Destruction’s End. It attempts to recreate Diablo II in Starcraft II. That’s seven player classes, three difficulty modes, co-op, new random global events, and most of the main story campaign. Creator Etienne Godbout has been working on it for four years and while there are still some bugs, and it’s definitely a beta, it’s an impressive effort from a lone modder. Doubly so, when you consider the Starcraft II engine is being stretched to the limit to make this work.
The Curse of Tristram is now available in Starcraft II’s arcade mode.
StarCraft II will soon have an in-game marketplace to buy and sell user-made maps. This was a feature shown prior to the release of the original Wings of Liberty installment, but was deemed not ready for public use. Here we are, nine years later, and we’re finally getting the Premium Arcade in the game’s 4.3 update. Like other stores for user-made videogame content, the items sold will be curated by the developers. The initial offering will be the “high-quality premium” maps ARK Star and Direct Strike. Each will cost $4.99 and a portion of the sale will go to the respective creators.
StarCraft II’s Arcade features thousands of user-made maps and mods for free already. It is unknown how many of those authors have been contacted to work with Blizzard on the new marketplace.
Blizzard is considering announcer packs for Starcraft II. In a survey sent to selected Starcraft 2 players, celebrity announcer packs are proposed for $3.99 each, along with other DLC options like premium chat emoticons, and cosmetic unit skins. Proposed celebrity voices included Morgan Freeman, Snoop Dogg, and the Hearthstone Innkeeper. Similar voice packs have been a staple DLC for games like Dota 2 and League of Legends for years, but this would be a first for the Starcraft franchise. A Blizzard community manager responded to the original leak with a good-natured chide.
Surprisingly, this would not be the first such gig for Snoop Dogg. His voice talent was featured in an announcer pack DLC for Call of Duty: Ghosts in 2014.
StarCraft II’s 2.1 patch is rolling out to all players now and it comes with a lot of new features. Players with the free Starter Edition will no longer be limited to using the Terran race in multiplayer, and they’ll be allowed to play with any of the melee maps. Starter Edition users can also now play any of the Arcade games for free. According to the blog post, even multiplayer components that require Heart of the Swarm can be accessed by the Starter Edition. This means that StarCraft II multiplayer is pretty much free for everyone as long as you don’t care about ranking and tournaments.
If you’re a fan of the old soundtracks, patch 2.1 comes with a gift for you. You can now choose to enable classic soundtracks and rock out to music from StarCraft and the Brood War expansion. Who could forget that one track that had all the thumping and whatnot?
Of course there’s a gaggle of balance changes that came with patch 2.1. The full notes can be found here.
The game is Starcraft II played in a series of 1v1 matches, with the winner being the first to four victories. The map is Metalopolis, which features four starting positions behind narrow ramps, and two gold mineral expansions in the center. The races are randomly determined, just like real life generals. The players are Tom Chick, ranked 5th in his division in the silver league, and Kelly Wand, who has one of those dragon icons in Warcraft III but hasn’t even played the stupid campaign in Starcraft II.
The game is Starcraft II played in a series of 1v1 matches, with the winner being the first to four victories. The map is Metalopolis, which features four starting positions behind narrow ramps, and two gold mineral expansions in the center. The races are randomly determined, just like real life generals. The players are Tom Chick, ranked 5th in his division in the silver league, and Kelly Wand, who has one of those dragon icons in Warcraft III but hasn’t even played the stupid campaign in Starcraft II.
The game is Starcraft II played in a series of 1v1 matches, with the winner being the first to four victories. The map is Metalopolis, which features four starting positions behind narrow ramps, and two gold mineral expansions in the center. The races are randomly determined, just like real life generals. The players are Tom Chick, ranked 5th in his division in the silver league, and Kelly Wand, who has one of those dragon icons in Warcraft III but hasn’t even played the stupid campaign in Starcraft II.
The game is Starcraft II played in a series of 1v1 matches, with the winner being the first to four victories. The map is Metalopolis, which features four starting positions behind narrow ramps, and two gold mineral expansions in the center. The races are randomly determined, just like real life generals. The players are Tom Chick, ranked 5th in his division in the silver league, and Kelly Wand, who has one of those dragon icons in Warcraft III but hasn’t even played the stupid campaign in Starcraft II.
The score so far: Tom: 2, Kelly: 1
The game is Starcraft II played in a series of 1v1 matches, with the winner being the first to four victories. The map is Metalopolis, which features four starting positions behind narrow ramps, and two gold mineral expansions in the center. The races are randomly determined, just like real life generals. The players are Tom Chick, ranked 5th in his division in the silver league, and Kelly Wand, who has one of those dragon icons in Warcraft III but hasn’t even played the stupid campaign in Starcraft II.
The game is Starcraft II played in a series of 1v1 matches, with the winner being the first to four victories. The map is Metalopolis, which features four starting positions behind narrow ramps, and two gold mineral expansions in the center. The races are randomly determined, just like real life generals. The players are Tom Chick, ranked 5th in his division in the silver league, and Kelly Wand, who has one of those dragon icons in Warcraft III but hasn’t even played the stupid campaign in Starcraft II.
The game is Starcraft II played in a series of 1v1 matches, with the winner being the first to four victories. The map is Metalopolis, which features four starting positions behind narrow ramps, and two gold mineral expansions in the center. The races are randomly determined, just like real life generals. The players are Tom Chick, ranked 5th in his division in the silver league, and Kelly Wand, who has one of those dragon icons in Warcraft III but hasn’t even played the stupid campaign in Starcraft II.
