In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Blizzard's StarCraft 2 design lead Dustin Browder admitted that the company is having a rough time launching the promised Marketplace for Battle.net.
Previously Blizzard stated that the proposed Marketplace would serve as a storefront for StarCraft 2 modders offering free and premium maps. It was even slated to launch just after StarCraft 2 hit store shelves last year. Obviously the Marketplace hasn't launched, and at this point, it won't swing the doors open to the StarCraft 2 community for some time to come, if ever at all.
"As you can imagine, there is an immense number of challenges for us to overcome," Browder said in the interview. "We're trying to deal with those issues. I don't know how we're going to solve some of the player rights issues. How do players protect their own maps so they don't get ripped off by other players? What are the rules of how much you're allowed to charge? There's just a ton of work for us to figure out."
Browder admitted that the company hasn't built anything like a Marketplace before. He also acknowledged other solutions offered by Blizzard's competitors. "More power to them," he added. "But we haven't done it yet. So there's going to be a bunch of work for us to figure out how to get this done. But it's something we're working on."
Later in the interview, Browder said that the Marketplace won't launch within the next month, indicating that its release is a "distance down the road." He was then asked if it was possible the Marketplace idea would be canceled entirely. His answer? Anything was possible.
"We've canceled whole games before," he said. "Warcraft Adventures never made it out and that game was basically done. But we are working very hard on it. We have a bunch of people dedicated to it. I have every hope and belief and faith in its success and we're absolutely committed to getting it done."
Don't be surprised if the Marketplace doesn't launch until the arrival of StarCraft 2's second installment, Heart of the Swarm.
