StarCraft 2 beta keys being auctioned for around $300

by Griffin McElroy on Feb 20th 2010 10:30PM

We've received a ton of emails asking how one might get up on the StarCraft 2 beta if they didn't apply for access last year. Kotaku recently turned our attention to a possible solution, though ... well, you're not going to like it. More than 50 beta keys, most of which came in the form of coupons handed out at BlizzCon 2008, are now being auctioned off on eBay. The prices range from around $120 on the low end, averaging out at about $300, and reaching as high as $450.

If you're as independently wealthy as you are impatient, this may be your only channel for instant gratification. Of course, keep a watchful eye out for scammers, and keep in mind that purchasing Battle.Net accounts linked to World of Warcraft accounts is against Blizzard's Terms of Use. We'd also advise you to take a good look into that deep, dark, truthful mirror, and think about all the other things $300 can buy. (Hint: It can buy a lot of things.)

Source

Tags: activision-blizzard, auction, beta, blizzard, ebay, starcraft, starcraft-2, strategy

Reader Comments (69)

It's the PS3 all over again...

...........the ps3 wasn't a beta test being sold over the internet for $450.

you can buy a ps3 for 300$

or a round trip ticket to a city you've wanted to visit for years.

or hookers.

mad hookers.

If my hookers were mad at me, I'd want my money back.

;)

(joking)

Are we talking a mad hooker that "only does everything" here?

If the hookers aren't mad at me at the end of five minutes, I want my money back.

Wait...what....

What if they bit your tongue and ruined your commercial career?

wtf, with that kind of money you can buy a current gen system, a crap load of games(that are equal to, if not better than Starcraft ) or soup up your pc. Starcraft may be a good game but it isn't THAT good. Whoever buys this is a dumbass.

Nothing in the RTS genre is "better" than SC, I'm afraid. That's why millions still play it. But I agree - paying 400 for access to a beta is ridiculous, no matter how much money you have.

I'm not one to say that $300 isn't a lot of money or that it isn't absolutely insane for anyone to pay for that just to get a beta key, however, here's a scenario that would justify the purchase. Starcraft is well known to be a competitive game that's televised and has a real prize money. For those few individuals that compete at that level, $300 for early access is well worth the competitive edge of getting that much more game time before everyone else.

That's an interesting point - but assumes that the people who would play SC for money wouldn't have signed up in the first place. If significant money was an issue for you, you would have been sure to sign up for this in the first place - not risk your ability to use Battle.net by breaching the TOS.

PC soup eh?

Does it come with...microchips?

*shudder*

You don't realise the magnitude or intensity of the Starcraft fanbase. I wouldn't be surprised if it's gone by the end of this week. Besides, if you've got too much money on your hands why not?

Yeah, a lot of players are desperate/impatient, but as the beta is going in waves anyway, most will wait to see if they can get in (myself included).

And as awesome as Starcraft is, it isn't worth dropping $300 to play a game that I can eventually get for less that only has multiplayer that people are still trying to get a handle of.

/facepalm

This reminds me of the ps3's being sold for $1,000+ on eBay 3 days after it's launch.

FINALLY someone said it!

$300 isn't to crazy especially if one makes a decent wage and loves starcraft.

I couldn't do it though, not a big enough fan, I would just get my ass kicked online.

Who says PC gamers don't pay for games? Huh?

i dunno who?

Ubisoft....

EA...

then they should take a look at my steam game list

I was sent 3... Sold 2 for $275 each and my buyers were extremely appreciative. I just look at it as slightly delayed recovery of funds spent on BlizzCon '08.

...and nothing beats an unexpected $500 at tax time.

Why did you get voted down? Anyone else here would have done the same thing. Heck i probably would have sold all 3. Not that i dont want SC2 badly, but after rent, food, fuel, bills and debts i have about $10 a week left over to spend on other necessities, like nappies for my son and paying back the $1500 i owe to my ex and her family.

@foetoid

I agree. No need to downvote. It is all about supply and demand. He isn't forcing anyone to pay $275 per beta key, he is just putting it up on and auction site and seeing what happens. What would you want him to do? Throw the extras in the trash?

@weezer

give the extras to 2 friends so you can play together?

but yea i would have sold them too if i could get close to 300 each

Well, In all honesty, it's really the bear mount that making the sell.
They ones that are just the Beta code barely have any bids at all.

I'm afraid you are incorrect. Take a look at the 'Completed Items' and you'll see over a hundred successfully completed auctions of just the key itself.

Those bear mounts went up for sale while BlizzCon was still going on. If it was just the mount that was selling, the cards wouldn't be selling so much now.

Must be nice having that kind of money to waste.

who the heck would spend $300 for a BETA, you're paying 5 (maybe 6) times the price for a small part of the game that you can't play after the full game comes out, before all the amazing 2010 games come out?

whew.....

I walked away with a buyer paying $260 for my Starcraft 2 Blizzcon key on Friday. I knew it would always fetch a high price from those Starcraft 2 nuts. :P

Suckers.

It'd be nice if Blizzard could track these people down and ban their beta keys. I'm pretty sure there's some term of agreement somewhere thay says you can't sell the keys. Plus like joystiq said, there's A LOT of more important things you could spend $300 on.

How does this hurt you, Blizzard, or the consumer in any way?

Blizzard gets to have someone who REALLY wants into the beta to test their game. You and me get to have a game filled with crazy psycho testers to pick out every stupid minor flaw and gameplay balance issue before it goes live, and the person buying the key gets to skill up with the new units before anyone else.

I don't see a downside here except you hate capitalism.

Someone is bitter because they are too poor to afford a $300 beta key.

This is an example of capitalism at its finest.

Too poor? There are some things not worth the price put on them.

It's like pricing a bottle of Coke at $100, and then someone saying "That's a stupid price", then someone else saying "You are just too poor to afford it."

No, you are stupid for saying that. If someone wants to buy a key, and they can afford it, that's their choice. But it's still stupid to pay that much for it, when you can buy the entire game and both expansions with not even half that. The beta only goes for a little while, and is online-only. Once the full game comes out, you can't play it anymore. So that $300 went down for nothing.

Additionally, I think you are just making those comments because you are selling one yourself.

" It's like pricing a bottle of Coke at $100, and then someone saying "That's a stupid price", then someone else saying "You are just too poor to afford it." "

Except it is absolutely nothing like that because Coke is mass produced and ANYONE get get a bottle of it very cheap. Starcraft 2 beta keys are only being released in limited numbers and there are only very specific ways to get them.

I personally do not have a beta key but you can be sure that if I did I would certainly be selling it if I could get that much for it. I am a poor college student and $300 is $300. As I said in one of my earlier posts, this is capitalism at its finest. I can't see why anyone feels as thought this is wrong.

I said if someone wants to buy the key and they can, that's their decision.

But to say "You are just too poor to afford one" is stupid. That person may not think it's worth $300, it doesn't necessarily mean they are "too poor" to afford one.

I wipe my butt with $300 every time I take a dump.

I use starcraft 2 beta keys

You people disgust me. This is America. You don't judge what an item is worth when you are not buying it. In South Korea, people make 30k for winning a SC televised match. Some people are using these keys to get ready for tourneys and the like. You can make ALOT of money off of Starcraft.

Hit the road, Jack, and don't you come back no more, no more, no more, no more.
Hit the road, Jack, and don't you come back no more...

Blizzard should put those assholes out of business and let the next 20 000 beta keys be sold for $1 and give the money to charity.
They should also email me a day earlier so I can buy 5-10 for me and my buddies.

If they did that, I might just be willing to drop 20k just so I can turn them around for a 30,000% mark up the next day.

Why? The seller obviously doesn't want to play the beta that bad. Blizzard would rather have someone actually play the game to help find flaws. Its a beta. That's why it exists.

Why are people getting so angry about this?

People can do whatever the hell they want with their beta keys, if someone wants to sell their key, god speed to them.

Just because you are bitter because you can't afford one doesn't mean they are wrong for doing it.

NERDS...

wow, i wish i was that rich.

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 50 Comments

Sorry, you must be logged in to leave a comment.

Breaking News

The most popular posts
in the last 7 days

Vita 'UMD Passport' won't be offered in US 219 comments
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning review: A tempting fate 152 comments
David Jaffe leaves Eat Sleep Play, layoffs hit developer [Update] 107 comments
Don't call it a remake: Final Fantasy X is a 'remaster,' to be clear 95 comments
Battleship movie adapted into FPS by Double Helix 93 comments

StarCraft 2 beta keys being auctioned for around $300

Reader Comments (69)

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 10:33PM Gandalf the Grey said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 3:39PM I AM IRONHIDE said

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 10:37PM Shauk said

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 10:43PM Acosta02 said

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 11:09PM Pure Black World Tendency said

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 11:47PM BananaBoat said

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 11:48PM Cheesus Crust said

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 10:45PM Grey said

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 10:48PM departer said

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 10:48PM Morisato13 said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 1:10AM MasterYogurt said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 6:21AM Sir Biccy said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 9:16AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 3:02PM RageOverdose said

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 10:59PM I AM IRONHIDE said

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 11:01PM I AM IRONHIDE said

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 11:03PM phuz said

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 11:10PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 11:20PM The Spy said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 3:17AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 7:31AM Ghen said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 8:21AM The Spy said

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 11:12PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 1:04AM Foetoid said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 1:16AM Flat Rook said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 9:03AM bigdonny said

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 11:12PM Nicknin10do said

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 11:17PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 1:21PM Drakkenfyre said

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 11:17PM Spike Spiegel Humble Bounty Hun said

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 11:18PM The Spy said

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 11:43PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 11:49PM CaramelZappa said

Posted: Feb 20th 2010 11:57PM RogueJedi86 said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 7:36AM Ghen said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 11:09AM Huey2k2 said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 11:39AM Drakkenfyre said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 11:41AM Drakkenfyre said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 12:30PM Huey2k2 said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 1:01PM Drakkenfyre said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 12:03AM thinkthis said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 1:24AM Flat Rook said

Posted: Feb 25th 2010 6:35AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 12:54AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 1:06AM departer said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 1:25AM Morisato13 said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 7:39AM Ghen said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 11:10AM Huey2k2 said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 1:31AM MasterGouken said

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 1:44AM Typicalgamer said

Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

Double Fine Kickstarter passes $1 million in under 24 hours, breaking yet another record

Featured Stories

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier brings information warfare to the front

Rhythm Heaven Fever review: Crazy into you

Remedy not done with Alan Wake

The most popular postsin the last 7 days

Engadget

TUAW

Massively

WoW

The most popular posts
in the last 7 days