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Greetings
StarCraft II community,
Blizzard
has always been proud of the success that the StarCraft
series has achieved globally, and we’ve been especially
grateful for the passionate support of our Korean players.
When we set out to create StarCraft II, we knew we were
taking on a monumental task: we had to not only deliver
a fun and balanced game, but we also had to create something
that could live up to the legacy of its predecessor
in Korea and thrive in the unique gaming culture that’s
evolved here over the past decade. Which brings me to
why I wanted to write this letter to you today: to address
some of the questions you’ve had about our decisions,
our plans, and our goals for StarCraft II.
First,
I’d like to touch upon the evolution of StarCraft II
and Battle.net. Both are bigger, more ambitious, and
more complex than their predecessors, and we’re committed
to providing new features, great new content, and outstanding
support for years to come. You’ve started to see some
improvements already. We’ve enhanced how custom maps
are sorted and viewed, and we have more upgrades planned
to make it easier to enjoy a wider variety of game types.
Our development teams are hard at work on developing
new ladder and custom maps, and we’ll soon be unveiling
several custom games made by the StarCraft II team that
we think will surprise you. And while we’re confident
that we’ve released one of the most balanced RTS games
ever, perfect balance is a never-ending battle -- and
something we will continue to strive for. We’ve constructed
the new Battle.net to make it easier for us to monitor
how players are playing, collect and analyze feedback,
and ensure that StarCraft II remains the ultimate competitive
real-time strategy game.
We’ve
heard your feedback regarding public and private chat
channels as well and will be adding them in an upcoming
patch. We’ll also soon be introducing seasons to the
StarCraft II ladder; as seasons progress, players will
be able to access records of past accomplishments. Around
the same time, we’ll be introducing new pro and semi-pro
leagues. In addition, Battle.net’s social benefits
will continue to become more evident as we add new games
to the service. Players can already connect and communicate
with friends across World of Warcraft and StarCraft
II, and in the future, they’ll be able to do the same
in Diablo III.
We
realized from the start that players would want to access
and use StarCraft II and Battle.net in different ways.
That’s why we created a variety of access options to
suit different play styles and levels of commitment.
Players can choose from multiple time-based passes if
they know they’ll play intermittently, or they can
choose an unlimited-access pass. In addition, Korea
is the only region where World of Warcraft players can
play StarCraft II for free!
Finally,
I hope many of you were able to watch the finals for
the first season of the Global StarCraft II League this
past weekend. I’d like to personally congratulate FruitDealer
for his hard-won victory and thank all of the participants
for making this first season so successful and memorable.
The GSL is just getting started -- the Season 2 preliminaries
begin on October 9, and matches will be broadcast beginning
October 18. We’ll be welcoming a new batch of players,
including some very familiar faces, and we’re looking
forward to seeing what strategies and surprises they
all have in store. Gom TV is hard at work ensuring this
season will be more epic and accessible than the last;
you can visit www.gomtv.com for details or to catch
any of the GSL matches you might have missed. I’d also
like to mention that we are actively encouraging the
creation of amateur StarCraft II tournaments as well,
and we look forward to supporting more community tournaments
at that level.
We
continue to receive questions about the status of the
negotiations between GomTV and organizations such as
KeSPA, OGN, and MBC. We recognize many of you are interested
to continue watching StarCraft I matches on TV, and
as long as there is interest, we would like to see that
continue as well. As GomTV is our exclusive tournament
and broadcasting licensee in Korea, I cannot provide
too many details about their ongoing negotiations other
than to say that I am aware of the status of the negotiations
and remain optimistic that these parties will be able
to reach agreements that allow this to happen. Contrary
to what you may have heard, it would make us very happy
to see both StarCraft and StarCraft II matches continue
to be televised at the professional level. These are
both Blizzard games, after all.
I
hope I’ve addressed some of the questions you’ve had
over the past couple of months. As always, we appreciate
the continued feedback from our Korean players, and
we look forward to hearing more from you as StarCraft
II and Battle.net evolve. See you online.
Sincerely,
Mike
Morhaime
CEO
and Cofounder, Blizzard Entertainment
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