Blizzard Releases StarCraft For Free Nearly 20 Years After Its Debut
Can you recall what you were doing in 1998, or even what PC you owned back then? For me, it was a system purchased from Sears with a Pentium MMX processor clocked at 200MHz inside. I had not gotten into the StarCraft craze like so many others, though the joke is on them—having waited nearly two decades, I can now legally grab a copy of StarCraft for free, along with the Brood War expansion.
Blizzard just released StarCraft and the Brood War expansion at no cost to anyone who cares to download one or both. What's the catch? There really is not much of one—Blizzard is working on a remastered version with updated 4K graphics and audio, and when that releases, the original StarCraft will officially be dated. With that being the case, it makes good business sense to try and attract a new generation of gamers, some of which might end up purchasing the remastered edition.
StarCraft is one of the most popular games of all time. It ranks in the top 10 in sales (No. 6) with 11 million copies sold to date. That includes 1.5 million copies worldwide during the first year, making it the best selling game in 1998. It is especially popular in South Korea, which accounts for 4.5 million of the 11 million copies sold. Even today it is still a popular game with a rapid following, particularly among professional gamers in South Korea, some of which enjoy mild fame.
The latest update to StarCraft not only makes the game free for everyone, it also brings with it some additional features and improvements, such as autosaving for replays, an Observer mode, improved anticheat capabilities, and more. On top of that, Blizzard stomped out a handful of bugs, including one that was affecting LAN game discovery. LAN and Battle.net fixes are included, too.
If you want to revisit StarCraft (or try it out for the first time), hit the Blizzard link here and have fun!
Thumbnail Image Source: Twitter (Bearyatric)
Blizzard just released StarCraft and the Brood War expansion at no cost to anyone who cares to download one or both. What's the catch? There really is not much of one—Blizzard is working on a remastered version with updated 4K graphics and audio, and when that releases, the original StarCraft will officially be dated. With that being the case, it makes good business sense to try and attract a new generation of gamers, some of which might end up purchasing the remastered edition.
#MyStarCraftStory Been a fan since the beginning, so much so my original Starcraft broke! Finally no funny colors because of modern OS! pic.twitter.com/OEEwJOWBny
— Paulivider Gamer (@Plyontre) April 14, 2017
The latest update to StarCraft not only makes the game free for everyone, it also brings with it some additional features and improvements, such as autosaving for replays, an Observer mode, improved anticheat capabilities, and more. On top of that, Blizzard stomped out a handful of bugs, including one that was affecting LAN game discovery. LAN and Battle.net fixes are included, too.
If you want to revisit StarCraft (or try it out for the first time), hit the Blizzard link here and have fun!
Thumbnail Image Source: Twitter (Bearyatric)
