Starcraft 2 Will Be Free-To-Play

With BlizzCon entertaining the many curious gamers and followers, Blizzard Entertainment had a few surprising announcements up their sleeve. One of their best received reveals was definitely the fact that Starcraft 2, will be made available to everyone free of charge. After 5 years, it's great to see Blizzard allowing full access to one of the originals in terms of esports. 

As mentioned earlier, this was revealed at BlizzCon, the Blizzard-centred gathering of news and content. Mike Morhaime, the president of the organisation, was the one to go ahead and tell everyone the great news. However, not the whole of the game is yours, having conceded "large portions" including the initial game in the Starcraft 2-sage and Wings of Liberty. If you already own a copy of Wings of Liberty, one is entitled to the sequel, Heart of the Swarm, for the same price of zero. 

Content continues with full granted access to the ladder of all three games in the series. Yet, before jumping straight into the multiplayer ladder, players need to complete a prerequisite of 10 game-of-the-day victories, supposedly an attempt to reduce combat account abuse. 

With five years gone, is this move to late? Probably. Delaying such a move is perhaps why the franchise slipped away into disinterest as League of Legends and Dota 2 surged forward. Blizzard's motives are simple; to start regenerating community enthusiasm and enough funds to kick-start a larger esport, like it once was. 

So as of right now, Starcraft Brood War and Starcraft 2 are completely free, with Starcraft 2 multiplayer and Wings of Liberty campaign releasing in due time on November 14.