No LAN multiplayer in StarCraft II . . . but something's up [Update]

Posted Jun 29th 2009 7:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Multiplayer, RTS, Starcraft II

Folks who like to go to LAN parties or just play games on their corporate or college network may be disappointed by this bit of news. According to an IncGames story, they have supposedly confirmed with Blizzard that there are no plans to support offline LAN multiplayer in their upcoming sci-fi RTS game StarCraft II.

Details on why such a simple feature would be excluded are scarce, however, with the article quoting a Blizzard spokesperson as saying the reason "is because of the planned technology to be incorporated into Battle.net." More info on this unnamed technology is supposedly coming later but it's a shame that StarCraft II gamers will have to use Battle.net for multiplayer even if the people in the match are sitting right next to each other.

Update: Big Download got an update from Blizzard's PR folks which gives more color on their decision:

"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."

Gallery: StarCraft 2 Screenshots

Tags: battle.net, blizzard, blizzard-entertainment, starcraft-2, starcraft-ii, starcraft-ii-multiplayer

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

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I mean, seriously....

!Posted at 8:16PM on Jun 29th 2009 by James

"Details on why such a simple feature would be excluded are scarce"

Simple feature? I doubt it. They've set up battle net to do all kinds of things, including map sharing and matchmaking. It's not as simple as just connecting the two computers together. Let's face it, when starcraft came out, LAN was necessary, because most people had 56k connections at best. Now, everyone's got internet, it's not a big deal.

For those who say there will be lag, that's ridiculous. Starcraft has ALWAYS used peer-to-peer connections, even when playing on battle.net. If everyone is sitting in the same room playing on battle.net, there's no lag. Trust me, I've tried it. Posted at 9:27PM on Jun 29th 2009 by Matt Rix

Oh blizzard. LAN is a fundamental component of any multilayer game.. especially for an RTS. LAN is needed b/c why sure everyone nearly has the internet, imagine.. 6-12 guys wanting to play Starcraft II at a lan... Ok great we have to use Bnet and use the internet. Someone has to bust out a switch so everyone can play while enjoying a lag-fest just so we can lan and enjoy the game together in the same room(s) drinking bawls. And the internet isn't fast for everyone! Not everyone pays for highspeed yet and some college connections have horrible ping etc. I can't tell you how many times I've gone and held a lan on campus in the past year. (that and WC3) Also BNET will lag at times, crash, go slow, w/e and we have to deal with it. This was not a hard decision... Blizzard just wanted to pull a gay like EA with drm. They want to ensure people are paying for the game so they cut out LAN for their convenience. Blizzard has been more focused on gaining profits then pleasing the player in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, Starcraft II will be great, but without lan it's just going to be less great and a bit of annoying. Wait for the Koreans to create an unofficial lan patchPosted at 2:50AM on Jun 30th 2009 by Gman

The worst thing about this is that I know I'm going to buy it regardless. They know this is true for most people as well and that's why they did it.

But I am NOT fucking happy about it, this is a major feature they are cutting out. Posted at 3:56AM on Jun 30th 2009 by Ihavepants

This is very stupid not to include LAN play capability. Argue as much as you want that the internet is everywhere, LAN parties are dead whatever. There is no reason not to include a multiplayer element that has been around since the dawn of well multiplayer capable PC games. This is a step backwards and for those who would argue otherwise... you will see my point when you want to play multiplayer, have more than 1 PC capable of playing the game, yet you can't do it b/c you have a situation where the internet is not there for you! I will let blizzard know they lost my purchase of this game!Posted at 1:18PM on Jun 30th 2009 by jjperrone

This really pissed me off. personally I have been fighting to get highspeed internet in our small town for 10 years ever since I could no longer play games properly online. My town has cable but the network is so old it can't support internet. Yes satelite is available but its latency is terrible. So I personally will not be buying any games that are made for multiplayer that do not have a lan feature. 56k is garbage tech that unfortunately still exist because telecom companies are too lazy or cheap to bring highspeed internet to rural comunities. Oh and im playing left 4 dead on lan how about that blizzard.Posted at 2:37PM on Jul 5th 2009 by Telset

QQ more noobs. Battle.net was the best in '98, and that will remain in the future.Posted at 2:52AM on Jul 6th 2009 by Tyler

Really now Tyler? So the only people who enjoyed LAN parties, of any kinds really, are just a bunch of noobs? I guess you are the type who locks the door to your room, dims the lights, and jerk off to the login screen and to the "pwnings" you give a bunch of random people online. I bet being annonymous is a big turn-on for ya huh. Go shove it in a router and come back when you got something decent to bring.

Honestly, Blizzard is in a slow, downhill spiral, only solidifies it. Activision is pulling strings, no doubt, ever since the merger.Posted at 8:45PM on Jul 6th 2009 by devilsei

Oh, I forgot about all the sick, creepy sh** that I've heard about and seen on Battle.net too...
Yeah, seriously, definitely the win with all that...Posted at 8:45PM on Jul 6th 2009 by devilsei

Wow, sense sarcasm and maybe you'll shut your annoying trap. Posted at 4:46PM on Jul 8th 2009 by Tyler

I can’t believe that they are actually removing or shall i rather say not including LAN in SC2. LAN is what made the original SC popular in the first place.

Im 31 yrs old and me and my brothers still lan the original SC when ever we get a chance…..Blizzard will be loosing a big portion of their fan base if they leave LAN out.

This is from wikipedia “StarCraft was released internationally on 31 March 1998 and became the best-selling PC game for that year, selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide.[73] In the next decade, StarCraft sold over 9.5 million copies across the globe, with 4.5 million of these being sold in South Korea.[74] Since the initial release of StarCraft, Blizzard Entertainment reported that its Battle.net online multiplayer service grew by 800 percent.[75] StarCraft remains one of the most popular online games in the world.[76][77]”

So they want to cut back on piracy…did piracy of the original SC not help to make it one of the most popular games in the world? Im not saying that piracy is right but i am sure that it helped to distrute and advertise the game to thousands of gamers that eventually bought the game. i mean 9.5 million copies sold world wide….

I heard that you now will need to buy 2 add-ons to be able to play the 3 races in 3 diffirent campaigns. I will not be surprised if Blizzard is going to charge if you want to play online…

This whole setup stinks…greed is behind this. The new SC2 game looks awsome but i will have to see i will buy it. Without LAN whats the point.
Posted at 10:39AM on Aug 5th 2009 by Wayne