Update: StarCraft II Will Not Support LAN

Eager to play a round of StarCraft II with your buddies? You'll have to use Battle.net, since the game will not support LAN connections. On the plus side, the service will still be free.

It's no secret that I'm really excited for StarCraft II - like really, really excited - so I've been eagerly devouring all the news coming out of last week's multiplayer press event like a starving dog who just discovered a truck full of smoked hickory bacon. For the most part, it's been good news, with one exception: The game won't recognize LAN connections, Rob Pardo told IncGamers.

According to Pardo, the choice to exclude LAN games "is because of the planned technology to be incorporated into Battle.net," which will be revealed at a later date.

It's a surprising move, given that the first game's massive popularity was in part driven by LAN parties - many gamers including myself have fond memories of spending evenings and nights wired together with friends, talking trash as we spawned more Overlords. Without its "Spawning" feature, which allowed multiple installs of the multiplayer client off of one CD key, there's no telling if the game would have anywhere close to the fanbase it enjoys to this day.

I'm not sure what will happen if, for whatever reason, a group of would-be SC2 fans finds itself without a connection to the Internet for Battle.net, so my reaction to this one is caution. On the plus side, however, the same interview confirms that, although the company is looking to "monetize" Battle.net in some way, Blizzard remains committed to keeping the service free to play on for StarCraft II and any games to follow (presumably including Diablo III):

One idea which has been discussed in different iterations is microtransactions, meaning the service is free, but added value services like starting a custom tournament, league, or the like would cost a small amount of money.

It's an interesting philosophy, and one that makes sense - though apparently advertising revenue will not be a part of it, as many have suggested. "We spent a lot of money on Battle.net, right, so we need some way to sustain it," said SC2 lead Dustin Browder, though "current mockups don't include ads."

Beyond that, Browder told Kotaku that the team was hoping for the SC2 beta to last approximately four to six months. Given that we're almost halfway through 2009, this could put Blizzard dangerously close to running over its goal of releasing the game before the end of the year. Of course, it's not impossible: "It's getting there," Browder joked. "We can still make four!"

Of course, the company is determined to make sure the game is in tip-top shape before it releases the beta: "The minute beta goes out, we lose a lot of efficiency."

Update: Blizzard PR rep Bob Colayco confirmed to Joystiq that the company did not plan to support LAN games in StarCraft II:

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.

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Wasn't going to play multiplayer anyway...

I smell some form of buy only DLC to fulfill those vague money needs. I must be one of the few people who used lan to play with my roomie. Oh well, i guess i can put up with battle.net.

Well at least it's free. Most of the people who I know who play Starcraft play on a LAN server!

I never used LAN on Starcraft much. Of course, I don't own it. So I've done it twice with friends.

I wonder what this new feature will be...
I somehow have this feeling it's just an excuse to have a good reason not to have a Spawn install anymore.

What is a Spawn install?

My friends and I play Starcraft on Battlenet, because none of us want to haul our boxes to each other's houses...

Well, thats one way to mess up pirates be it that Hamachi is buggered by that one.

No support for LAN...playing Starcraft LAN games with friends was awesome.
LAN was better because you didn't get the "waiting for players" message every time you played
against someone with a bad connection on battle.net.

This news is a bit disappointing.

If Battle.net wasn't going to continue to be free...well then I definitely wouldn't buy Starcraft II.

What about the inevitable SCII tournaments?

What kinda crap is dis? aaaaaa no LAN? this sucks I want to play without the use of battlenet.

It sounds to me like they're going to force all multiplayer through battle.net in order to generate ad revenue.

Count me out.

MaxChaos:
Wasn't going to play multiplayer anyway...

Then why buy the game?

The Political Gamer:
What about the inevitable SCII tournaments?

Yeah or what about playing with your roommate in a 48hr SCII binge! I guess I can always go back to playing the first for my LAN fix.

bue519:

MaxChaos:
Wasn't going to play multiplayer anyway...

Then why buy the game?

For the singleplayer.

On one side, I rarely play LAN on anything anyway so it doesn't bother me much.
On the other, I have done so at a few times and it was a lot of fun and not being able to do it is a bit of a bummer.

(So, when's the beta coming? Now? Now? Now? Now?)

bue519:

MaxChaos:
Wasn't going to play multiplayer anyway...

Then why buy the game?

There's this thing called Single Player. Some of us like it...

Symplify:
What is a Spawn install?

Ah to be young again.

I loved the spawn installs. Starcraft, Diablo 2, and I think even Total Annihilation all had 'em.
What a great concept.

On topic: It seems like a rather silly move.
I mean, let's be honest here: How much 'work' would it take to add LAN support? Seems like they've already got the netcode working fine, so would it really be a big hassle to add LAN? Really? The answer, of course, is: No. The reason, however, doesn't seem to be as obvious. Incorporated Battle.net technologies? Who cares? People just want to be able to take their rig to a friend's house and sit in the dim basement and Zerg-rush each other. Do I need custom tournaments, or leagues, for that? No. I don't.

Weird move, Blizzard.

Dick move, guys. Judging by previous accomplishments, it should take Blizz about five minutes to program a dependable multiplayer functionality in Flash and save an innumerable host of weekend LAN parties in locales without Internet connections from being canceled. Not to mention mod parties. It's such a small thing that can be hugely important in some not entirely uncommon circumstances.

What possible reason can they have to justify even considering this? Whatever sales they might gain is nowhere near the sales they stand to lose when they find out that not everyone on Earth has Internet access. And don't pretend it could somehow make people buy the game who would otherwise download it. Remove the spawn installs if you really have to pinch every penny, company-that-posted-a-net-profit-of-250-million-dollars-last-quarter, but why remove the basic multiplayer that's been staple in every game since Warcraft 1?

CantFaketheFunk:

According to Pardo, the choice to exclude LAN games "is because of the planned technology to be incorporated into Battle.net," which will be revealed at a later date.

That had better be some damn fine techonology they're planning to stick in there, because LAN games have become a sort of staple in the gaming community. They're going to have to pull a big move in order to get people over that...

I also don't like the idea of microtransactions in an RTS game. It gives a sinister vibe off: one of restricting the players.

scotth266:
That had better be some damn fine techonology they're planning to stick in there, because LAN games have become a sort of staple in the gaming community.

In no small parts thanks to Blizz themselves, mind.

I have a presentiment that the technology they plan to incorporate is making you pay a quarter or so for every little game even if you just want to play with your buds sitting at the same table. If so I'm happy not to be paid up for WoW, cause I suddenly don't want to give them another cent ever again.

Eh, it's about time to remind them who they work for anyway. I call for immediate and indefinite boycott, who's with me?

Jandau:

bue519:

MaxChaos:
Wasn't going to play multiplayer anyway...

Then why buy the game?

There's this thing called Single Player. Some of us like it...

Yeah, but skipping over the multiplayer in this game seems like a sin against almighty blizzard themselves. I mean this entire game was built with the multiplayer in mind, the single player in a nice distraction and helps you learn the ins and outs of each side, but in 10 years people will still be playing the multiplayer.

Jenny Creed:

scotth266:
That had better be some damn fine techonology they're planning to stick in there, because LAN games have become a sort of staple in the gaming community.

In no small parts thanks to Blizz themselves, mind.

I have a presentiment that the technology they plan to incorporate is making you pay a quarter or so for every little game even if you just want to play with your buds sitting at the same table. If so I'm happy not to be paid up for WoW, cause I suddenly don't want to give them another cent ever again.

I'm hoping that that'll fall under basic functionality. Creating a LEAGUE with your friends might cost money, though.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Hopefully they won't pull the same shit for Diablo 3. >.<

MaxChaos:

bue519:

MaxChaos:
Wasn't going to play multiplayer anyway...

Then why buy the game?

For the singleplayer.

So once your done with the singe player are you just going to uninstall the game? I mean cmon the multiplayer pays for the game 10 times over, besides there arn't just versus games. SC has some great co-op mods for the multiplayer, so why you would pass that over if beyond me.

Aw! Well at least it's going to be awsome.

Jandau:

bue519:

MaxChaos:
Wasn't going to play multiplayer anyway...

Then why buy the game?

There's this thing called Single Player. Some of us like it...

One of the worst kinds of n00bs on B.Net are those who completely skip the SP and dive right into MP.

Never used LAN, probably never will. Besides, I'm holding out until they release the BattleChest for SCII (mostly because my computer sucks, it can't even play HL2). I get a feeling they want to make sure B.Net is as flawless first for MP games, and later on, about the time they release the BattleChest, they'll announce LAN being made available.

Then again, because of the (JUSTIFIED) splitting of the game into 3, it WOULD be hard to make sure LAN worked properly from the get-go.

At least they have the balls to not only take out LAN in the first place to ensure it will work later on, but to also announce it, and do everything they can to prove they are keeping standard Battle.Net service free. I applaud Blizzard to coming out with this and taking the backlash instead of leaving the fans (not the anti-fans or those that complain about the game BEFORE IT EVEN COMES OUT) to find out themselves.

bue519:

MaxChaos:

bue519:

MaxChaos:
Wasn't going to play multiplayer anyway...

Then why buy the game?

For the singleplayer.

So once your done with the singe player are you just going to uninstall the game? I mean cmon the multiplayer pays for the game 10 times over, besides there arn't just versus games. SC has some great co-op mods for the multiplayer, so why you would pass that over if beyond me.

Different strokes for different folks... who knows, maybe SC2 will be the firt strategy game I'll enjoy playing online, but up until now I just haven't really enjoyed it.

Personally, I love starcraft and can't wait for Starcraft 2 (Available where I am Novemeber 3rd hopefully it doesn't get moved). I never played the original with LAN so it doesn't bother me in the slightest.

Baby Tea:

Symplify:
What is a Spawn install?

Ah to be young again.

I loved the spawn installs. Starcraft, Diablo 2, and I think even Total Annihilation all had 'em.
What a great concept.

On topic: It seems like a rather silly move.
I mean, let's be honest here: How much 'work' would it take to add LAN support? Seems like they've already got the netcode working fine, so would it really be a big hassle to add LAN? Really? The answer, of course, is: No. The reason, however, doesn't seem to be as obvious. Incorporated Battle.net technologies? Who cares? People just want to be able to take their rig to a friend's house and sit in the dim basement and Zerg-rush each other. Do I need custom tournaments, or leagues, for that? No. I don't.

Weird move, Blizzard.

You didn't explain what is was. I've been playing Starcraft since I came out, and I've never heard of them.

Infinite resources should be distributed infinitely.

When you install the game you should be given the option of making a spawned install. This uses up slightly less resources and can run without the CD, but you can only play multiplayer games created by someone with a proper install with the same CD key. Less complicated than it sounds.

Sidenote: If they're worried about keeping b.net free then why remove the option of playing anything other than b.net? There's a big contradiction.

bue519:

Jandau:

bue519:

MaxChaos:
Wasn't going to play multiplayer anyway...

Then why buy the game?

There's this thing called Single Player. Some of us like it...

Yeah, but skipping over the multiplayer in this game seems like a sin against almighty blizzard themselves. I mean this entire game was built with the multiplayer in mind, the single player in a nice distraction and helps you learn the ins and outs of each side, but in 10 years people will still be playing the multiplayer.

Well, I guess if we ever met you'd try to burn me at the stake. I hardly ever play multiplayer in RTS games. Did SC once in a LAN, WC3 and DoW a few times (also LAN) and I played DoW2 for about a week or so. I love RTS games, but I am allergic to the many rigors of online gaming.

Symplify:
You didn't explain what is was. I've been playing Starcraft since I came out, and I've never heard of them.

My Bad.
A spawned install is one where just the essentials for multiplayer are installed using the same CD-Keys. It was used for LAN parties, pretty much. So where a group of people might have only one member who owns the game, everyone could still play together using the multiplayer spawn install. It was small and didn't require a CD to use. Almost like a multiplayer demo.