No LAN Support or Consoles for StarCraft II

Yesterday IncGamers posted a recent interview conducted with three Blizzard masterminds working on the upcoming PC game, StarCraft II. Although the first installment of the game is slated for a Q4 2009 release, the interview took place during Blizzard's multiplayer sneak peek event during the third week of June. Talking with VP of game design Rob Pardo, lead producer Chris Sigaty, and lead designer Dustin Browder, the interview covered topics such as the overhauled Battle.net service, the map-making community, the single player story, LAN support and more.

According to both Browder and Sigaty, support for local area networking (LAN) was still a topic of discussion, nether confirming nor denying LAN capabilities. However, Pardo immediately provided a profound "no," saying that Blizzard does not have any plans for LAN, nor will it offer support. Apparently, the only multiplayer option provided by the game will be through Blizzard's free Battle.net service.

Unfortunately, this probably means that StarCraft II will not offer the "Spawn" feature as seen in the original StarCraft game, allowing owners to install the game on up to eight machines using one product key. "Spawn" copies featured local multiplayer support as well as access to Battle.net, however these "lite" versions locked players out of single-player games, the campaign editor, and block the ability to create multiplayer games.

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In addition to the LAN support, IncGamers asked the team whether StarCraft II would appear on the current consoles. Pardo replied by saying that there's a zero percent chance of console versions in the future. "In our opinion we just don't feel like we will deliver the type of RTS game that we've been creating [on consoles]," he said. "We have tried in the past, we actually tried the original StarCraft on Nintendo 64. It works, it's playable, it's just such a different playability gameplay experience than on PC and we really don't want to have it be that different."

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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.

71 Comments Comment from the forums

mcnuggetofdeath

WTF blizzard. I seldom play starcraft but its a huge staple at the monthly LANs I host with my friends. I was genuinely excited for this release until I heard that it was going to be a 3 part series, this only makes me dislike Blizzard more. Could they be less subtle in pointing out that all they want is money? I shouldnt have to use your servers just so i can see ads from your sponsors. If the same thing happens with Diablo 3, I assure you i will never buy another thing from Blizzard.
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zipz0p

Respectably != respectively. Please read your news articles before posting - my faith in this site is slowly diminishing. Albeit at a much greater rate when I encounter increasingly the poorly considered and presented articles produced by this site. Please have your writers go to anandtech.com to learn how both to write, and how to really delve into their research and think about their results before posting them. And editors - don't let your writers get away with this poor quality. It is depressing.
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dechy

It's a good thing the SC series never was and probably never will be something I like from Blizzard... especially with this small revamp and triple campaign release, damn money grab.

It most DEFINITELY has me worried about D3 though... I've never like BNet, even with an ultra low ping, it always skips a beat and lags compared to LAN. I think I only played a few days total on BNet with D2/D2X before going nuts over the lag (60ms ping to server, yet stuff dies quite a bit after getting hit and monsters jumping in your face?? screw that).

They'll feel the backlash of this one for sure once it gets around.
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apache_lives

Was looking foreword to playing this in LAN, now i dont really want to buy it - thats f'd in the head.
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What the hell, they've ruined the whole point of the game without LAN support. I play mostly with Dorm buddies and at LAN parties so if this is true then I won't waste my time or money on it. I'll just wait for Final Fantasy.
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unlicensedhitman

Well I have to admit StarCraft 64 was dumb. I have never bought the game because it was like $60... I tried it at my friend's house, I could see his whole base and everything he was doing. LOL What a failure.
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ColMirage

I hope Battle.Net 2.0 offers extremely low latency options like LAN does for people playing in a LAN.
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joshthor

i can see consoles. rts' on a console is like a race horse with 3 legs. no lan is dumb though.
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stupid and pointless, slowly losing support for the game as time goes on and you wait longer to release this damn game already and now tell that there will be no LAN support....... ROFL, stupid, half the people that play enjoy lanning up at peoples houses and playing as well online. stupid stupid stupid, losing support as time goes on.......
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matt87_50

why not? i'm sorry blizzard? are you worried about piracy? i imagine you would be, for a company in your fragile financial position..... you have had all the time and money IN THE WORLD! if there is anything wrong with the game (like, i don't know, missing a major networking component in one of the most played multilayer games of all time) there is something seriously wrong with you.
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