At the Valencia eSports Conference, Dustin Browder revealed that Blizzard has been considering making the StarCraft II multiplayer experience free to play. This would obviously be huge news, and a step to combat other free to play eSports titles such as League of Legends and DOTA2.
"We don't know how we would monetize it," said Browder. "While it might be good fun for me to play against someone with only half the units available to them, that's not going to be an enjoyable experience for them."
This will be a big challenge for Blizzard – the only things I could think of that they could monetize is maybe custom skins for units, unique decals or maybe team colors. Either way, its good to see Blizzard looking for ways to keep StarCraft II relevant, especially as the beta for Heart of the Swarm rages on. We'll keep you posted as the situation develops.
Dustin Steiner is GameZone's eSports Correspondent! Follow him on Twitter @VGHC_Deitis and check out Video Gaming Hard Corps, where he is a local tournament organizer for the S. FL. Fighting Game Community.
