Starcraft 2 CEO's Message

The chat patch is finally here I believe, I can hardly believe it, the mute Battle.net 2.0 for Starcraft 2 is no more. I will be one of the first ones in the new channels just saying hello to everyone. Ah, the good old days of Starcraft 1 and the sense you are not flying a battlecruiser by yourself in a dark galaxy far far away is finally gone, or will be gone soon! Can't wait!

The full letter is as follows:
Greetings StarCraft II community,

Blizzard has always been proud of the success that the StarCraft series has achieved globally, and we've been especially grateful for the passionate support of our Korean players. When we set out to create StarCraft II, we knew we were taking on a monumental task: we had to not only deliver a fun and balanced game, but we also had to create something that could live up to the legacy of its predecessor in Korea and thrive in the unique gaming culture that's evolved here over the past decade. Which brings me to why I wanted to write this letter to you today: to address some of the questions you've had about our decisions, our plans, and our goals for StarCraft II.

First, I'd like to touch upon the evolution of StarCraft II and Battle.net. Both are bigger, more ambitious, and more complex than their predecessors, and we're committed to providing new features, great new content, and outstanding support for years to come. You've started to see some improvements already. We've enhanced how custom maps are sorted and viewed, and we have more upgrades planned to make it easier to enjoy a wider variety of game types. Our development teams are hard at work on developing new ladder and custom maps, and we'll soon be unveiling several custom games made by the StarCraft II team that we think will surprise you. And while we're confident that we've released one of the most balanced RTS games ever, perfect balance is a never-ending battle -- and something we will continue to strive for. We've constructed the new Battle.net to make it easier for us to monitor how players are playing, collect and analyze feedback, and ensure that StarCraft II remains the ultimate competitive real-time strategy game.

We've heard your feedback regarding public and private chat channels as well and will be adding them in an upcoming patch. We'll also soon be introducing seasons to the StarCraft II ladder; as seasons progress, players will be able to access records of past accomplishments. Around the same time, we'll be introducing new pro and semi-pro leagues. In addition, Battle.net's social benefits will continue to become more evident as we add new games to the service. Players can already connect and communicate with friends across World of Warcraft and StarCraft II, and in the future, they'll be able to do the same in Diablo III.

We realized from the start that players would want to access and use StarCraft II and Battle.net in different ways. That's why we created a variety of access options to suit different play styles and levels of commitment. Players can choose from multiple time-based passes if they know they'll play intermittently, or they can choose an unlimited-access pass. In addition, Korea is the only region where World of Warcraft players can play StarCraft II for free!

Finally, I hope many of you were able to watch the finals for the first season of the Global StarCraft II League this past weekend. I'd like to personally congratulate FruitDealer for his hard-won victory and thank all of the participants for making this first season so successful and memorable. The GSL is just getting started -- the Season 2 preliminaries begin on October 9, and matches will be broadcast beginning October 18. We'll be welcoming a new batch of players, including some very familiar faces, and we're looking forward to seeing what strategies and surprises they all have in store. Gom TV is hard at work ensuring this season will be more epic and accessible than the last; you can visit www.gomtv.com for details or to catch any of the GSL matches you might have missed. I'd also like to mention that we are actively encouraging the creation of amateur StarCraft II tournaments as well, and we look forward to supporting more community tournaments at that level.

We continue to receive questions about the status of the negotiations between GomTV and organizations such as KeSPA, OGN, and MBC. We recognize many of you are interested to continue watching StarCraft I matches on TV, and as long as there is interest, we would like to see that continue as well. As GomTV is our exclusive tournament and broadcasting licensee in Korea, I cannot provide too many details about their ongoing negotiations other than to say that I am aware of the status of the negotiations and remain optimistic that these parties will be able to reach agreements that allow this to happen. Contrary to what you may have heard, it would make us very happy to see both StarCraft and StarCraft II matches continue to be televised at the professional level. These are both Blizzard games, after all.

I hope I've addressed some of the questions you've had over the past couple of months. As always, we appreciate the continued feedback from our Korean players, and we look forward to hearing more from you as StarCraft II and Battle.net evolve. See you online.

Sincerely,
Mike Morhaime
CEO and Cofounder, Blizzard Entertainment

 

I hope I've addressed some of the questions you've had over the past couple of months. As always, we appreciate the continued feedback from our Korean players, and we look forward to hearing more from you as StarCraft II and Battle.net evolve. See you online.

 

Win.

 

Where did you get this "letter" and from where? Looks fake.

 

i was just wondering what does this refer to?

 

Not sure where he got it from but it's posted on every forum refering to SC2. Either it's a big troll thing or it is legit.

 

Dammit. Does that mean SC2 is going to a subscription based model?

 

Or maybe they don't need to buy the game?

 

If it's subscription based I'm done and that's utter bull****. =/ You know how many people would say F that and just go back to Broodwar? 1, that's how many. -.-

 

If it becomes subscription based, I will quit starcraft 2. I will not buy any of the expansions.
I will bring my absolute wrath upon the world.

 

You're focusing too much on the play for "free" part. Regardless of whether they have to buy the game or not, the mention of time based and unlimited access passes sounds something more akin to a subscription model, much like phones - buy minutes or buy an unlimited plan. So if this letter is for real, then I think that paragraph needs explaining, because at face value it is very troubling.

 

Didn't korea have a possible subscription already? I remember something like that, with korea and some poor countries having the ability to make subscription-based accounts as well as just buying the game.

 

I don't know, but despite people saying they would quit I could very well see Blizzard doing this and making a profit from it. I suppose it would answer my question of whether I will get back into WoW again...since if I'm going to be paying for a BNet subscription to play SCII there wouldn't be much of a choice to make (other than paying for expansion releases).

Anyway, I hope I'm just mis-interpreting this due to it being poorly written/too vague in content. I wouldn't really blame Blizzard for doing this, but I sure wouldn't like it.

 

SC1 would be revived if this happened. xD I'd put money down.

 

How so?

They way I'm thinking it would be a subscription for access to BNet itself.

Upside? 1 subscription would allow access to any BNet game, provided you purchased the actual game (of course this is kind of moot right now because the only pay-to-play game is WoW).

The downside? No more free multiplayer for the ones we've gotten used to having (WC, SC and Diablo line).

 

Well...if they make it a pay to play thing chances are they'd up the price as well cus it would be for all 3 games and not just for WoW. You also have to think of the fact that single player wouldn't be free, or atleast not the whole achievment thing so you'd miss something that's atleast important to me.

 

I still don't think you get what I'm saying.

I'm saying they charge you for the individual games, just as they do now (that includes WoW by the way....you have to buy the initial game and THEN continue to subscribe to play).

All I'm saying is now they also charge you an access to charge to BNet.

They wouldn't have to up any prices because they are still charging you for the initial games. You can already play SC2, diablo, WC, etc and WoW for a single monthly fee (which is the current WoW subscription fee). What they would be doing is forcing everyone to pay that access fee, even if they don't play WoW.

 

I say down with Blizzards CEO. o.o Nuff said. IF he does it, let's get all of us and storm his place. With all these Diamonds on here we'd have the most tactical army in history.

 

total bs.. way to many errors in this, as well as just plain retarded.

 

Yeah, it prolly is bull. But now we're just talking about what would happen if it were true. =P