Blizzard "looking at free to play as an option" for StarCraft 2 multiplayer

StarCraft 2 lead designer Dustin Browder has been hinting at a free to play future for StarCraft 2 multiplayer. Speaking on a panel at the Valencia eSports Congress , spotted by PCGamesn , Browder admitted that Blizzard are "looking at free to play as an option for the multiplayer," but don't know exactly how to make money from it.

“We don't know how we would monetise it. While it might be good fun for me to play against someone with only half the units available to them, that's not going to be an enjoyable experience for them," he said.

StarCraft 2 is hardly short of players, but it's a difficult game to watch if you haven't put in a few rounds and gotten to know the units a bit. A free client would remove a barrier for those that fancy following the sport without becoming entangled in the tough world of online SC2 competition. Would free SC2 MP be a good idea? How should they charge for it?

Tom Senior

Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.