Tue, Jun 30, 2009 | 07:12 BST
Dropping StarCraft II’s LAN support was “difficult decision”
Blizzard’s confirmed to VG247 that StarCraft II will indeed lack LAN support, saying the decision to drop the feature was “difficult”.
Last night’s reports that no local multiplay is to be included in the game were met with general disbelief.
Said Blizzard in a statement:
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.
Beta, please.
15 
Posted in: Activision Blizzard, Hot, PC, Strategy
Tags: lan, lan support, starcraft II
15 comments
#1
GrMbL
30/06/09, 7:19 am
“and safeguard against piracy.”
This is the only reason i see why they do this.
Unless they come up with some very interesting features.
“to ensure a quality multiplayer experience”
Deuuuh. LAN games are with people you sit in the same room. Very often friends who don’t have a freaky play style. You can choose to go online if you really want…
So again, what will be those advanced features? I guess they won’t have anything to do with LAN games, except anti-piracy.
#2
Freek
30/06/09, 8:21 am
Wow, that’s mental. But I geuse you could still all log in to Battle.net on a LAN and host private games, but it’s not the same and requires fast internet to be present.
This comming from the developer who made SC1 so that you diden’t even all have to have a CD in order to play LAN!
That’s some progress.
#3
SwiftRanger
30/06/09, 8:53 am
Euhm guys, it was already known from the Leipzig show last year that Diablo III wouldn’t have LAN either. This really isn’t a big surprise if you connect the dots (read: that both games use BN2.0).
Hamachi is pirate heaven so in a way this is good but LAN was also a great promotion tool for a game. So it’s a shame they’re leaving it out as well.
#4
El_MUERkO
30/06/09, 9:04 am
“No LAN!”
good luck with that
i await the hacked beta client with lan supports release between 1 and 4 days after the beta starts, followed by the lan playable full release a week before it hits the shelves
followed by a desperate climbdown by acti/blizz as they attempt to recoup some sales in asia
#5
Hunam
30/06/09, 11:03 am
It was a difficult decision being it was a decision made against all common sense. It’s a joke that I have to go through the internet to play against a friend sitting half a metre away. Blizzardlol.
#6
Grimrita
30/06/09, 11:16 am
By not having LAN support will save alot of money from a development point of view.
#7
Hunam
30/06/09, 11:22 am
This sums up my views really: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/9/29/
Basically, because of people who are never going to buy the game anyway, paying customers are getting shafted. Great work there. It’s not like Blizzard games sell megatons anyway.
#8
Centipede
30/06/09, 11:25 am
But by having no LAN support what is going to happen in the e-sports arena?? This means that Pro-Gamers have to play against each other via internet on tournaments like WCG?!
E-sport is a main focus of StarCraftII so this choice seems very odd to me….
#9
Hunam
30/06/09, 11:28 am
I’d imagine for things like that there will be a custom server or something that BN redirects too I guess. Smaller LAN companies will be fucked though.
#10
Centipede
30/06/09, 11:33 am
Custom servers is an option of course. They already do this for WoW Arena games in larger E-Sports tournament.
Wouldn’t it be cool if we could also buy bnet server software that can create a local-only battle net (not connected to the internet). Now THAT would be awesome.
#11
Hunam
30/06/09, 11:40 am
No, that would be paying extra for something we should just get out of the box.
#12
Psychotext
30/06/09, 11:41 am
“By not having LAN support will save alot of money from a development point of view.”
I don’t know much about this sort of thing, but surely if they’ve already written the networking code for working over the internet, then the much more simple LAN code would be a breeze?
#13
Centipede
30/06/09, 11:56 am
@hunam …I guess you are right about that.
#14
Hunam
30/06/09, 12:09 pm
Sorry for being a bit blunt there!
It does just wind me up though. Blizzard seem to be taking every step they need to by making a good game then just making me not want to buy it. No LAN and having to buy 3 games to get the full story. You’d think that having to constantly defend their awful decisions someone over there would have clocked what the players want.
#15
Centipede
30/06/09, 1:17 pm
No blunteness felt
Not including LAN is a choice I don’t understand. However it does not bother me that much. Three episodes for Starcraft II is actually something I am looking forward to, because I’m a sucker for the single-player modes (and the lore within it).
I still think/hope the game will be awesome (played it during the worldwide invitational and it was awesome already back then!)