[Macworld]

Post your comments for Blizzard Kills StarCraft II LAN Support here

[Wizardling]

This is outrageous. They just lost a sale because I will not be buying a game without a major feature like LAN play because of 'piracy concerns'. Blizzard - you are pathetic! I can't believe I actually used to look up to you :-(
But that was before you never fixed Diablo II (some bugs from the beta version are STILL in the game! Plus D2 Bnet play is AWFUL - you can get branded a cheat and temp banned because BNET ITSELF lost the plot and you did nothing wrong), you retarded WoW, and you used cutesy Paladon Bright WoW-style graphics in Diablo 3.

[Stormchild]

Whatever. Makes no difference to me.
This game looks awesome. Can't wait to check it out.

[zwei]

Very interesting.

[smax013]

Sounds like another example of a company treating its customers like criminals. No wonder everyone seems to want stuff for free these days...at least then you do not have to pay some money to be treated like a criminal.

[Mazz1]

So they will not have any sales to soldiers deployed overseas for a fact, because LAN parties is about all there is to do for recreation over there.

[scralpha]

Does anybody know of any research supporting my theory that the people who habitually pirate games/movies/music/etc are not technically 'lost sales' since they would probably never have paid for said content anyway? In other words, if a pirate can't get it for free, he's doing without it. No sale lost.
Not a justification of piracy, just a quick dose of reality for the companies losing sleep (and paying customers) over draconian piracy prevention tactics.

[kresh]

I am willing to bet that this has nothing to do with piracy and everything to do with squeezing money out of customers who want to play against their friends. I am waiting for the other shoe to drop with Blizzard announcing that customers have to pay for a required monthly subscription to use Battle.net.
Of It could be a subscription service now, I wouldn't know because I only play over LAN. If it is already a subscription service, my point stands that this is not to combat piracy.

[zwei]

scralpha said:

Does anybody know of any research supporting my theory that the people who habitually pirate games/movies/music/etc are not technically 'lost sales' since they would probably never have paid for said content anyway? In other words, if a pirate can't get it for free, he's doing without it. No sale lost.

I remember that time I walked into a movie theatre and told them I was going to watch the movie for free because I wasn't going to pay for it anyway? wait, no I don't.

[Steveolyo]

Make a difference, hold off buying this game to send a message to Blizzard.
One of the best features of the original Starcraft is the ability to play LAN games and not be tethered to the internet. Most games add features as they evolve rather than remove features. This is a big one. If you want to play on battlenet, then you will be playing with sweet ads blinking on your screen while you are playing. Nice. More revenue for Blizzard, less enjoyment for you.
Are they really afraid of the pirates? Me thinks not. The real goal is to suck everyone into their monthly revenue stream like WoW users have been sucked in like Moths to a flame. Yes, they want to make money, but hopefully this will demonstrate to them that there will be less money generated because sales will be dismal if potential buyers realize that they are getting crippled game with intentions of focusing your eyeballs on ads that blizzard is selling.

[himbo]

scralpha said:

Does anybody know of any research supporting my theory that the people who habitually pirate games/movies/music/etc are not technically 'lost sales' since they would probably never have paid for said content anyway? In other words, if a pirate can't get it for free, he's doing without it. No sale lost.

I think the reality is a less black-and-white answer than you posit. Yes, there are hardcore pirates out there on the internet that will never pay for a game. There are also people who currently pay to play games who would absolutely stop paying if they had a way to play for free.

[scralpha]

[quote name='zwei']
>

scralpha said:

> Does anybody know of any research supporting my theory that the people who habitually pirate games/movies/music/etc are not technically 'lost sales' since they would probably never have paid for said content anyway? In other words, if a pirate can't get it for free, he's doing without it. No sale lost.
I remember that time I walked into a movie theatre and told them I was going to watch the movie for free because I wasn't going to pay for it anyway? wait, no I don't.

That's because the correct analogy would be:
I remember that time I tried to sneak into the movies and got caught, so I went to the park instead.

[scralpha]

Exactly my point. Companies should be looking to add value for paying customers, not remove it because of a few hardcore pirates who would never pay anyway.

[wgood]

This is not good news. I really hope Blizzard reevaluates the situation, and looks at how many people use the game when out of reach of the internet.