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StarCraft 2 beta launching this month

Published on 11th February 2010 by Joe Martin

Blizzard Entertainment will be launching a beta of StarCraft 2 by the end of Feb, with a 2010 release still planned.

Blizzard Entertainment has confirmed that it will have a pre-release multiplayer beta of the much anticipated StarCraft 2 ready by the end of the month.

Better still, according to Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime, the full game is still on track for a international release at some point in the middle of this year.

"We are slated to begin closed beta testing this month," Morhaime told investers, according to ShackNews, promising that the beta would be available to players from multiple countries.

Morhaime said that the game was still set for a mid-2010 release, but wouldn't explicitly commit to the hoped-for release date at the end of June.

Don't go getting too excited about all this StarCraft 2 talk just yet though. Blizzard is still sticking to plans to divide the full game into a trilogy of smaller titles and has spoken often about the increased casual appeal of the new StarCraft, both of which have hardcore fans on the edge of their seats.

Blizzard hasn't yet clarified the details of the beta and we still don't know if it will be open or closed, whether players might have to buy in via pre-orders or what the system requirements might be. We'll let you know more when we do, but until then you can tell us your thoughts in the forums.

8 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

sHORNY 11th February 2010, 12:38

It's so going to be a pre-order beta. It seems thats the run of the mill at the moment with Star Trek and BC2 (bar the few giveaways) to name a few!

mecha. 11th February 2010, 12:50

i hope so cus i cant wait to get my hands on this game, its been way too long since the first.

eddtox 11th February 2010, 12:51

Pre-order beta, no lan, 3 smaller episodes rather than a full game, a mod marketplace and "more casual appeal". Gee, where do I sign up! I bet it's gonna be packed full of DRM, too ;)

As a side note, do you think they make you preorder the game before you beta test it so that you end up buying the game even if you don't like the beta? Or can you cancel your preorder if you don't like the beta?

ApostleUk 11th February 2010, 12:54

If play do the pre order then you can cancel =)

eddtox 11th February 2010, 13:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by ApostleUk
If play do the pre order then you can cancel =)

Does any preorder (from any r/etailer) count, or do you have to preorder directly from Blizzard?

Skiddywinks 11th February 2010, 15:01

Why does anyone think you need to pre-order for the beta? So long as you already have a CD key from any Blizzard title, you can sign up for Blizzard betas on the website. Maybe there is a guaranteed beta invite if you pre-order, but you definitely don't have to pre-order.

Star*Dagger 12th February 2010, 08:24

*chants* Review Star Trek Online.

BLC 13th February 2010, 11:58

I don't care if it's a pre-order beta, open, closed, packed full of DRM (seriously, are people still complaining about that? It's pretty much a fact of life for PC games now) or whatever. I want this game. It's not as if they don't have enough money to work on it. How frikkin' long has it been since the first gameplay videos?