30/06/2009 23:55:00 | Nic Simmonds

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Blizzard explains lack of Star Craft 2 LAN

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Piracy is primary reason behind lack of LAN support for Star Craft 2

Yesterday Blizzard announced that it would be releasing Star Craft 2 with no LAN support. Many gamers have expressed outrage at the decision from the developer. The move will make it impossible to play Star Craft 2 at LAN parties and LAN events.

Blizzard has come forward and explained why it is deciding to go ahead without LAN support. Bob Colayco from Blizzard PR explained to Joystiq that LAN support is not being included because Blizzard wants to make sure that Battle.net is a central hub for Star Craft 2 players. Colayco also stated that the exclusion of LAN support will deter pirates.

"We don't currently plan to support LAN play with StarCraft II, as we are building Battle.net to be the ideal destination for multiplayer gaming with StarCraft II and future Blizzard Entertainment games. While this was a difficult decision for us, we felt that moving away from LAN play and directing players to our upgraded Battle.net service was the best option to ensure a quality multiplayer experience with StarCraft II and safeguard against piracy.

Several Battle.net features like advanced communication options, achievements, stat-tracking, and more, require players to be connected to the service, so we're encouraging everyone to use Battle.net as much as possible to get the most out of StarCraft II. We're looking forward to sharing more details about Battle.net and online functionality for StarCraft II in the near future." - Blizzard PR Bob Calayco

It is unfortunate that players will not be able to LAN Star Craft 2, however, the explanation given seems fairly reasonable.

It still remains to be seen if Blizzard will be able to prevent people from developing cracked Battle.net servers, in which case, the lack of official LAN support may become irrelevant.

Star Craft 2 currently has no release date, but Blizzard is aiming to have it out by the end of 2009.

Discuss lack of Star Craft 2 LAN in the forums

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Duncan

on 01/07/2009 03:23:10

Blizzard lost not just me, but I'm sure millions around the world.
I was willing to spend money on that game, actually go out and buy it. There's no way in hell I'm doing that now.

HeavyTank

on 01/07/2009 06:40:37

i'm sorry but this move reeks of Activision meddling.

still they won't see my cash anyway

HeRm

on 01/07/2009 09:09:15

:(

so wrong!

no i'll think twice about buying this one....

Noc

on 01/07/2009 09:14:11

Yep, same here - Blizz can kiss my mine too. That's so lame, and I'll not be buying that game.. instead, maybe I'll be on the lookout eventually for a cracked b-net server, then I'll rather get that, pirate the game and play LAN at the office with a big "screw Blizzard" smile on my face.

dare_delete_me_bitch

on 01/07/2009 09:14:47

fooken hell!

-1

Messiah

on 01/07/2009 09:53:01

I don't know what everyone is fussing about. Provided it is still peer to peer playing (so we don't get crippled by latency) what difference does it make?

All it means now is it will be a lot harder to pirate the game. And I would rather have to sign in to Battle.Net that get useless DRM. I have no issues with this at all.

dare_delete_me_bitch

on 01/07/2009 10:12:32

Pfft what ever, bet u with or without DRM lan ect... this game will be pirated like no other.

Seems more like a excuse that a valid reason.

Angelo

on 01/07/2009 10:17:56

Aside from the fact that no matter how badly they destroy their game to prevent piracy, it'll still happen. Why not make a game you're happy with, let the fans buy it and let the pirates pirate?

I don't respect piracy, but I also don't respect companies dumbing themselves down and destroying their brand because of it. I mean, it's STARCRAFT. I've never gone to a LAN where there wasn't at least two suggestions to play Starcraft.

Not to mention Starcraft probably has THE biggest following, next to WoW, and there are more than enough people serious enough about the game to buy it.

on 01/07/2009 10:25:17

Ironic. :S

They do this to battle piracy, but... it's only making it worse. *sigh*

DaveMc

on 01/07/2009 11:59:17

Well, if they really wanted battle.net to be the way forward, where's the LAN deployable version of battle.net? Or, perhaps the South African version of Battle.Net. LIES! This is nothing but a money saving strategy where all Blizzard games centralise authentication in one place. What are they going to do with tournaments?