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PC News | Maps and mods to be sold over a marketplace service.

This weekend has proved to be quite informative for fans of game developer Blizzard, with news coming out of BlizzCon confirming that a retooled version of the Battle.net online platform will be launching alongside StarCraft II. Also revealed that Battle.net will also include a marketplace service - quite like those featured on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 - for StarCraft II.

This new service is said to include both free and premium content, with "a portion of the revenue" from the premium content going to the content's creator.

Blizzard's Design Chief, Rob Pardo, assures gamers that the company "totally intend[s] for there to be a lot of free content," stating that the focus of the move is to "make sure that the best amateur game designers out there are making maps for StarCraft 2, and not for Kongregate or Steam or anything like that."

Pardo envisaged that this move could eventually lead on to much more high-quality mod content being available to gamers, drawing comparison's with the Day of the Defeat mod for the original Counter-Strike title.

Pardo confirmed that the marketplace will not be available at StarCraft II's launch in order for the title to not face any further delays.

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14 Comments

ObsoletE

2 years ago

I did wonder if the battle.net centralisation thing a few months ago was leading into a Steam/Impulse style launch pad, and this is sounding more and more like that's the plan.

G3ck0

2 years ago

Damn, I remember all the free maps you got with Warcraft 3. I guess that is gone now?

Oh, it's so users can sell maps? So I guess the way online works is going to change, because you won't be able to just download a thousand maps from playing online?

grim-one

2 years ago

This sounds like a bad idea because multiplayer is going to have a very fractured user-base. Those who spend no money on maps, those who only buy the very most popular maps and those who waste money on maps that don't get played.

Unless of course you only have to pay to host a game with a pay-for map maybe?

Sp4nKy

2 years ago

The downfall of company's like bizzard starting a steam/impulse system is that the people that are already using ether not both, will work the same way people using steam will not want to install another program that does exactly the same as steam or vice versa with impulse.

I see alot of people getting angry if in the future we have a different program for each company's games.

Sin Ogaris

2 years ago

Wow, I never thought I'd see the day where you would have to pay to get maps other users have made... that's ridiculous. I think Blizzard are just pushing how far they can **** over their fans and yet still sell millions of copies (because people are, inherently, idiots).

LeonJ

2 years ago

This is a bit sad really.

thatavguy

2 years ago

Just another reason for me not to buy the game and instead wait for the pirated copy - Blizzard has always pulled out top quality games, but I for one am getting sick of their attitude as of late...

Agent 042

2 years ago

am i the only one that doesnt see that much of a problem with this? sure, there's gonna be some maps you need to pay for to get, but noone is forcing you to buy them if you dont want/need them, and theres still going to be however many free maps just as there was with the original.

besides, if someone put solid weeks of effort into making an awesome map, what's so wrong about them getting paid for it?

Sp4nKy

2 years ago

Agent 042 wrote

besides, if someone put solid weeks of effort into making an awesome map, what's so wrong about them getting paid for it?

Im guessing it would work in blizzards favor if it happens that way, no company is going to give out a large portion of sales they get for custom maps. Just getting too greedy i think..

lapzod

2 years ago

Sin Ogaris wrote

It's not such a bad idea. I played a few mods for the original Starcraft that I thought were worth a bit of money. If it's a great map, then surely asking for some money for it isn't bad.

It really isn't a bad idea.

Island_Wolf

2 years ago

Pay for maps? They better provide demos for it though and better be cheaply priced.

I can't say for SC but for WC3, it was the free maps that made WC3 so great. Why? At uni, we went through heaps and heaps of maps such as Tower Defense, Pudge Wars, Icewind, some random maze and puzzle solving map, Defence of the Ancients, Magic the Gathering, Tank Wars and now settled with SWAT:Aftermath. Just letting you know, the experience was AWESOME!!! Naval battles, adrenaline rush zombie killing, buildings stuff to kill the waves, grapple gripping your enemies, oh the possibilities!!!

We wouldn't have experience just as much if it was paid, no way. The popular will just be as popular and the less known ones (which is still fun) will just get forgotten. Free maps had provided us with different and fun gameplay experiences.

Sin Ogaris

2 years ago

lapzod wrote

Sin Ogaris wrote

Mod's are a whole differnet affair, mod's can drastically alter the game and can create new play experiences (see DotA), I'd be more than happy if community members charged for FLESHED OUT (changing the unit stats is NOT a fleshed out mod) versions of their mods to help get some cash to work on new stuff. There were a number of Unreal Tournament mods I would have definitely paid for, as well as Warcraft, Starcraft and Half-Life (people did, in fact, Team Fortress and Counterstrike).

Paying for maps is absolutely ridiculous though, they're just maps. No matter how good the layout, it's still just a map.

lapzod

2 years ago

The Mods I was talking about were just simple Campaigns, and some of the map designs were fantastic.

I used to be a half decent mapper back in the day, and some of the things I've seen people do I'd be more than happy to pay for it.

What it comes down to is: If it's a good map, feel free buying it. If you don't want to do that, don't. Nobody is forcing you to. Just go play one of the countless free imitations that will surely popup.

Rereading my original post, I seem to have mentioned 'not a bad idea' several times.

lapzod

2 years ago

Shameless bump, but according to XBox 360 magazine (Issue 45) it looks like L4D2 may have something similar in addon campaigns designed by joe public

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