Blizzard: StarCraft 2 'marketplace' still coming

During BlizzCon 2009, Blizzard revealed plans to put a shopping interface inside StarCraft 2, which would allow players to purchase user-created maps, with revenue shared between Blizzard and the creator. The game came out in July 2010, sans marketplace, and that feature is still missing.

During an interview with MTV Multiplayer, Blizzard's Frank Pearce asserted that the feature is still on the way. "But it's not necessarily something we have a specific timeline for," he said, "which is unfortunate because one of the things that we've found is, especially from our learnings from World of WarCraft, is that these audiences that play these games are very, very passionate and want to experience lots and lots of content. With the StarCraft 2 client and the StarCraft 2 map editor and the Battle.net platform, it creates an opportunity for the community to serve itself with content, if the mechanisms are there."

To be fair, if it did have a timeline, it would be a Blizzard timeline, and therefore could only be specific to the year. Approximately.

Reader Comments (15)

Well I personally think this is a horrific idea. Paying for user generated content is significantly worse than DLC which is bad enough already.

This just shows how Activision-Blizzard has turned into Activision-

@Osmium I disagree.

If I were to make a map which became popular and I put a lot of time and effort into creating, I would appreciate some monetary compensation for my work because that's exactly what the marketplace is for.

It's like an art gallery. Artists create pieces and have galleries hang them up until they're sold, in which case the gallery takes its commission percentage and the artist gets the rest. Same principle.

@Osmium
I imagine that there will be the option to sell the map or distrubute it for free. They won't force you to sell a map.

@Osmium It allows content makers to spend more time on their ... content, and allows content users to get more polished content.

I dont see why some end user, which will prolly try and sell a shitty map, should be compensated for using a map maker to sell a map.

Map makers should be to help lengthen replay value of a game, not feel like worse DLC.

@Bluris
That's the theory behind it but it's purely hypothetical and if we lived in a perfect world. Unfortunately, people won't believe in making their content polished, they'll just be in it for the money.

Look at Oblivion, it was the people who were passionate about the game who made the mods and they were passionate about making it better, not just a means of making money.

@Golgo13

The art gallery doesn't provide the artists with a canvas, paint and and a paint between the lines outline.

While people are using their own ideas and knowledge to create the maps, their still using the map editor and resources created by Blizzard to make the maps.
They aren't doing it from scratch.

@Golgo13 Thing is that Starcraft and Warcraft have always had very active custom user map development even though there was no financial incentive...if everything starts becoming about money it'll kill the feeling of things being developed by community. A lot of maps were worked on by a lot of people, who all helped make a lot of the popular custom maps into what they are now. Once everything is monetized people are not gonna be so cool about other people making similar maps with tweaks to them, and probably aren't gonna be cool about letting whole communities improve on the work.
Honestly it just sounds like Activision/Blizzard wanna make money off of custom maps, since so many people play them. This is like the lamest thing ever.

I'm willing to bet that project "Titan" which is probably a successor to WoW is taking up resources such as development time and funding from Blizz's other titles like Diablo 3 and the Starcraft series.

Just give us Diablo III and we'll call it even Blizzard.

hmm not sure i would pay for a mod unless its quality is at least on par with developers work, though i suppose its a way for people to break into the industry by saying they sold so many units of it.

It's not going to work like they think it will nor will it be as profitable as they think it will be. A veritable waste of time.

Thank god Blizzard have found ways to make more money.

Hmmm, pay for a map made by some guy?

Or wait until someone inevitably recreates said map for free and distributes it that way, or justs, I don't know, releases the "paid" map online to be downloaded through secondary means, and any protection included with it cracked?

Yeah... fat chance I'll be buying anything outside of a campaign for SC2. I don't ever remember DOTA having to be bought back during WC3.
As for the "art" example, any decent artist isn't in his job for the payments, its because he likes doing it and knows hes good at it. Being paid for it is just a bonus.

@DevilSei While I don't entirely agree with you, Blizzard started to die in my eyes with the whole StarCraft league thing.

Maybe there has been others, but I haven't ever seen a developer other than Blizzard charging others for holding/watching tournaments with their game.

This micro transactions are just another one of those things that make me know that they are losing themselves more and more. I wouldn't mind it if all of the money went to the one that made the mod, for support. Hell knows Blizzard makes a bazillion dollars a year as it is.

StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty

Blizzard: StarCraft 2 'marketplace' still coming

Reader Comments (15)

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 4:11PM Osmium said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 4:23PM Golgo13 said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 4:28PM monkeyontherun4 said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 4:31PM Bluris said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 4:40PM Faenix said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 5:46PM Osmium said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 1:15AM This Little Man Says His Name Is said

Posted: Mar 19th 2011 7:28AM technomania said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 4:13PM SgtDookie said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 4:17PM bennyfuyou said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 4:22PM Decanus said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 4:50PM Credge said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 5:36PM MrWolf said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 6:09PM DevilSei said

Posted: Mar 17th 2011 11:13PM WeRequireMOARMinerals said

StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

WB conjures up Harry Potter for Kinect this fall

Featured Stories

Silver Lining: I Am Alive's unfeeling world

Game Of Thrones and the paradoxes of adaptation

Super Joystiq Podcast 004: 38 Studios meltdown, Gravity Rush, Civilization 5: Gods & Kings, Dragon's Dogma

Engadget

TUAW

Massively

WoW