Starcraft 2 is now Free To Play 7 years after launch

[System Error Message]

starcraft 2 was free to play for a long time already. This isnt new and i wonder if the campaign still needs to be purchased seperately.

[AlTech]

1 minute ago, System Error Message said:

starcraft 2 was free to play for a long time already. This isnt new and i wonder if the campaign still needs to be purchased seperately.

the Campaign is now covered under  F2P.

[Rupe]

As someone who bought WoL and HoTS when they came out it would be nice if they would give me LoTV, it seems like a logical follow on from giving people who bought WoL, HoTS

[handymanshandle]

5 hours ago, SansVarnic said:

Interesting, I thought Blizzard was not interested in F2P. I guess they finally woke up. Lol.

 

Funny I have been playing LOTRO for years ... and they are doing quite well and still expanding the game. They make plenty of monies on the F2P system.

Well f2p is apparently what saved TF2 and I mean most people who played it probably still are f2p or were at one point f2p... World of Warcraft has sort of become f2p in the sense that you can play the game up to level 20 but then you have a lot of restrictions that a paid account doesn't. I get to experience it when I log back into my account with an inactive sub and all my characters over 20 are not playable and I don't know how it handles a level 20 or lower that's over the starter cap.

[AkatsukiKun]

So since I bought Wings of Liberty, and I get Hots for free as well. Wit the whole game SC2 as a whole is free. so does that mean that multiplayer which includes  Legacy of The Void is free as well just not the campaign? Someone tell me if I'm right please.

[MilitantCro]

4 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

Not in the game but in the Blizzard launcher which is REQUIRED to run the game?

Woooow you are so nitpicking, if you play OW for instance you just run the Bnet app and it will automaticly be set to OW with a giant play button no adds. How can you be bothered by this its only non laggy easy to use launcher for all games with max download speeds and automatic or organized updates next to steam.

 

You are just hating on it for hating sake.

[Doobeedoo]

It's actually really nice, new players can give it a try and all. 

[apm]

29 minutes ago, AkatsukiKun said:

So since I bought Wings of Liberty, and I get Hots for free as well. Wit the whole game SC2 as a whole is free. so does that mean that multiplayer which includes  Legacy of The Void is free as well just not the campaign? Someone tell me if I'm right please.

multiplayer obviously includes LotV.  

the new thing is that you can play ranked and coop without owning the full game.

the WoL campaign is also free.

[mynameisjuan]

Well it makes sense. Who wants to pay full price+DLC for a 7 year old game?

[DutchTexan]

2 hours ago, RyomaSJibenG said:

eh you can still play arcade and vs AI, if you have other friend who have starcraft2, you can party with them and play 2v2, 3v3, 4v4

Yeah, I was hoping LotV ladder would have been free if you don't own the game. Custom games have always been free. Every now and then I run into someone playing at a master level or even above, but never actually ladder. 

[dizmo]

I'd actually play it now, though I already know I'd be no good and would probably only play it a handful of times. Which is why I never paid for it in the first place. I miss good RTS games. 

 

The relevant platform bit is hilarious though. Why use Steam when you have your own platform? It's not like the app takes up a lot of space or is hard to navigate. 

 

6 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

I guess they saw that the game wasn't selling and saw a three way positive

Maybe not recently, but SC and SC2 are 2 of the best selling games. Within the top 20 IIRC. 

[apm]

33 minutes ago, DutchTexan said:

Yeah, I was hoping LotV ladder would have been free if you don't own the game. Custom games have always been free. Every now and then I run into someone playing at a master level or even above, but never actually ladder. 

ladder is free now.

the only thing you cant play as a F2P player is the campaign after WoL,

[dalekphalm]

6 hours ago, mrchow19910319 said:

The other day DansGaming talked about the reason there is not warcraft 4 is because SC2 sells like crap and it took them a ton of money to develop. 

 

Also RTS games are always harder to play in my opinion.... maybe I am too lazy to learn all the moves,  but still, you need to be constantly playing it and learning all the micros/macro plays not even mentioning the mechanical plays. 

 

A LOT TO INVEST in to actually enjoy the game...

I'm not sure where anyone got the idea that SC2 sold poorly.

 

Wings of Liberty had sold ~5+ Million copies by 2010. That was freaking 7 years ago now. I don't think there's a published figure for current to-date sales, but even at 5 million copies, that's a decent number for any game.

 

And that doesn't even include HotS or LotV - both of which had significantly less investment, since they're essentially campaigns for an existing engine, with some gameplay/graphics tweaks.

[Teddy07]

How is Blizzard planning to monetize their game?

[Misanthrope]

2 hours ago, MilitantCro said:

Woooow you are so nitpicking, if you play OW for instance you just run the Bnet app and it will automaticly be set to OW with a giant play button no adds. How can you be bothered by this its only non laggy easy to use launcher for all games with max download speeds and automatic or organized updates next to steam.

 

You are just hating on it for hating sake.

Or you could just point out that you require Steam for virtually every single other game.

 

My issue is not that I need to run it but that I need so many damn clients at this point: Origin, Battlenet, Uplay, Steam, Gog, Windows Store and even Bethesda is testing out their own fucking launcher now.

[dalekphalm]

33 minutes ago, Teddy07 said:

How is Blizzard planning to monetize their game?

Well, I don't think they're as interested in monetizing SC2, since they've long since recouped their initial investment.

 

But there's also the additional expansion missions, Nova Pack for example.

[Trixanity]

38 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

Or you could just point out that you require Steam for virtually every single other game.

 

My issue is not that I need to run it but that I need so many damn clients at this point: Origin, Battlenet, Uplay, Steam, Gog, Windows Store and even Bethesda is testing out their own fucking launcher now.

Streaming is going the same direction (only worse since it's subscription) with companies pulling content off Netflix to start their own service.

 

It all comes down to them not wanting to split the money.

[PocketNerd]

11 hours ago, SansVarnic said:

Interesting, I thought Blizzard was not interested in F2P. I guess they finally woke up. Lol.

 

Funny I have been playing LOTRO for years ... and they are doing quite well and still expanding the game. They make plenty of monies on the F2P system.

Blizzard has actually stated that they would have gone F2P with WoW had they done their research. Though I'm having trouble finding the exact interview it was stated (was many years ago).

Considering HearthStone and Heroes of The Storm are F2P I'd say they certainly have an interest in it. It's just a matter of it fitting their goals for the game they wish to make.

[Misanthrope]

41 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

Streaming is going the same direction (only worse since it's subscription) with companies pulling content off Netflix to start their own service.

 

It all comes down to them not wanting to split the money.

I think that in the case of movies and series for on-demand content there's far less of a push back simply because they cater to people outside of a PC far more efficiently: Every single smart TV or plug in device will now do all of the major streaming sites by default.

 

Which actually it kinda works out since PC users are more saavy anyway: I know I complained on the previous post but in reality I know how to force all others (but steam) to just not load on boot and only quickly open them when I need them: with an ssd it's basically a non-issue unless I'm reminded about them by running into a stupid update which is my one pet peeve here.

[suicidalfranco]

what if i already bought everything? can i get the Nova pack for free?

also: Blizz pls let me remove the Destiny icon from the Bnet launcher, i'm not interested, i only play the blizz stuff, yes even WoW, and the Activision part of the company can go F* themselves for all i care. If option to remove is not possible at least let me resize the Bnet window to hide it

[XenosTech]

1 hour ago, Misanthrope said:

Or you could just point out that you require Steam for virtually every single other game.

 

My issue is not that I need to run it but that I need so many damn clients at this point: Origin, Battlenet, Uplay, Steam, Gog, Windows Store and even Bethesda is testing out their own fucking launcher now.

You could just open the one you need to have open to play that particular game. Only time I have all the clients open is when I'm asleep or not at home and just have them open for patches that come out while I'm doing other suff.

[apm]

2 hours ago, Misanthrope said:

Or you could just point out that you require Steam for virtually every single other game.

 

My issue is not that I need to run it but that I need so many damn clients at this point: Origin, Battlenet, Uplay, Steam, Gog, Windows Store and even Bethesda is testing out their own fucking launcher now.

you are delusional if you think blizzard will put any game on another store and give away a decent chunk of the profit.

the only reason cod is even on steam is cuz activision doesnt give a single fuck about pc. the game is dead after 2 weeks anyway.

[Misanthrope]

1 hour ago, XenosTech said:

You could just open the one you need to have open to play that particular game. Only time I have all the clients open is when I'm asleep or not at home and just have them open for patches that come out while I'm doing other suff.

 

1 hour ago, Misanthrope said:

I know I complained on the previous post but in reality I know how to force all others (but steam) to just not load on boot and only quickly open them when I need them: with an ssd it's basically a non-issue unless I'm reminded about them by running into a stupid update which is my one pet peeve here.

 

[mrchow19910319]

3 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

 

interesting... i dont know the exact number... just heard this from some streamer. 

[RyomaSJibenG]

6 hours ago, Teddy07 said:

How is Blizzard planning to monetize their game?

skins, nova covert ops campaign, coop commanders, announcers