No LAN for Diablo III Too?
Looks as though Blizzard is sticking to its guns in regards to making Battle.net the multiplayer destination for all of its games.
Recently Blizzard revealed that StarCraft II will not offer LAN support when the first installment hits the market by the end of the year. Although the company cited piracy and security problems, Blizzard's overall plan is to make Battle.net the multiplayer destination for all of its games. With that said, the news that Diablo III may not offer LAN support should not be quite as shocking. In fact, gamers should count on Blizzard not supporting LAN from now on.
Strangely enough, the comments made by Blizzard Community Manager "Bashiok" in regards to LAN support were deleted from the Blizzard forums. However, this website managed to grab the discussion before mysterious forces magically eradicated the topic. His response was actually sparked by one commenter complaining that removing LAN support only hurts legitimate buyers. After all, pirates will take the time to reverse engineer the game and enable LAN support anyway. Bashiok didn't seem to agree.
"More so than overbearing/invasive anti-piracy measures that would affect everyone who buys the game regardless of how they're going to play it instead of just those that may want a LAN feature?" Bashiok responded. "I would doubt it. I don't know a lot about it, Diablo III isn't really facing the brunt of the Battle.net 2.0 features just yet, but I think that removing LAN in an attempt to avoid more severe anti-piracy measures is pretty cool. We're saying 'Hey, we're pretty sure you're going to love our game. The multiplayer is really the best part though. In order to get in on that that we'd just like to make sure you bought the game. Cool?'"
While LAN is highly unlikely, Activision Blizzard made it perfectly clear that consumers who purchase StarCraft II (and more than likely Diablo III) will have the ability to play on Battle.net with no additional fee. Although Diablo and Diablo II offered LAN support, consumers who purchased either title could play multiplayer games online via Battle.net free without an additional fee.
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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.
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BeAuMaN If I recall correctly... wasn't there a newsbit a while back about how Battle.net was going to start "monetizing" certain features? I'm curious as to what features they're going to monetize... because if it's anything related to what we now consider basic online play from WarCraft III and Diablo II... cutting out LAN is a real good way to get everyone to pay for it.Reply -
Raidur NOT cool. What about those of us who LAN w/o internet? I have been to a number of LANs which didn't have an internet connection. And the 2 most anticipated games by us are only going to be playable on internet capable LANs only??? (not to mention those stuck on dialup and have a LAN at home) NOT cool at ALL. That smells like 5 sale losses right there, and 1 download from the pirate community. Marvelous!Reply -
mcnuggetofdeath Screw Blizzard. Not buying that game. Wanted to, but I shouldnt have to rely on someone else's server to enjoy a product I purchased.Reply -
the_one111 First the butchering of the Warcraft world by the greasy claws of greed and now this?Reply
So much for me buying starcraft 2/Diablo 3. Stop smoking the weed blizzard.
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h0llow uhh correct me if im wrong but can't people just make a dummy server out of a pc somehow anyways? even though it'd take work to do it, a pc, and probably some hair yanking. then surely can't be too bad.. hm.. don't know. never truly played on a LAN before really so i can't speak out. has to be some sort of way though.Reply -
ph3412b07 First there's no LAN support, then eventually Battle.net is going to have a monthly fee. Obviously they'd lose everything if they didn't offer free Battle.net play at first...to hook in the suckers. I'm done with Blizzard, they're not getting a cent more out of me.Reply -
tayb Congratulations pirates. You managed to convince Blizzard that in order to secure revenue from these two games and fight piracy they need to force customers to use Battle.net to authenticate each game. I find it even more ironic that the people here at Toms Hardware get mad at this while at the same time admit and boast about their illegal downloading habits whenever TPB or RIAA articles come up. You keep breaking into my house I'll get a nice fancy alarm. You don't have the right to get pissed about the alarm. Only the neighbors who get woken up by the alarm have the right to get pissed. You thieves need to sit here and reap what you sowed. You've ruined it for the legitimate buyers.Reply -
efeat Well, at least this makes my game purchasing decisions rather simple. Every couple weeks, me and 4-5 other guys get together and spend a day lanning. If Blizzard no longer supports LAN games, then I have no choice but to no longer support Blizzard. It's as simple as that.Reply