The major issue on fan lips right now is the decision to remove LAN support for StarCraft II, with community man 'Karune' responding to criticisms thrown at them.

Chief among the arguments is piracy, which "often times tie in closely with LAN." Meanwhile the "four to six" month long beta will likely mean a release in the "fiscal '10 period," says analyst.

"As mentioned by Rob Pardo in interviews, piracy is a serious problem and often times tie in closely with LAN. At the end of the day, we want the best for the community and fans that support our games, and having chunk of the community pirate the game actually hurts the community," began Blizzard's 'Karune'.

"Pirated servers splinter the community instead of consolidating all players who love to play the game. Battle.net will bring players together in skirmishes, ladder play, custom games, and allow everyone the opportunity to share a common experience."

Piling more people into Battle.net, he argues, will mean "even more resources devoted to evolving this online platform to cater to further community building and new ways to enjoy the game online."

Continued support for World of Warcraft is a prime example. "The original StarCraft is an even better example of how 11 years later, players still love and play this title, and we will continue to support and evolve it with patches."

"If I were to buy StarCraft II or any other title, I know the money I spent would be going to supporting that title. Personally, I would be upset that others were freeloading while others are legitimately supporting a title that has great potential and goals of making this title have 'long legs,'" he continued.

Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey believes that Activision's holiday season won't be so strong after all, despite launching DJ Hero and Tony Hawk: Ride, because of the likely delay on StarCraft II into next fiscal. Rob Pardo recently revealed the team's desire for a lengthy "four to six months" of beta testing for the game, yet maintains a '09 release window.

"We find it increasingly probably that the game will be released in the fiscal '10 period," Hickey told Gamasutra.

Is the sacrifice of LAN the 'lesser of two evils' when employing anti-piracy measures? Can StarCraft II realistically make it to retail this year?



Source: IncGamers