Today’s WTF: Future Battle.net Won’t Be Free

Come on, Blizzard. In just a few days, you’re tarnishing any street cred you may have gained through years of hard work and devotion to your fanbase.

You’ve now hit two massive WTF’s in just one short weekend. What’s the deal?

Apparently, during a BlizzCon panel, Diablo III director Jay Wilson said that Blizzard is looking to monetize Battle.net. Guess who’s paying for it? No, not Blizzard, silly fanboys. We all know that they’re so hard up for that green.

No, you and I, in addition to buying three copies of Starcraft II, will now be expected to prop up Battle.net in the forseeable future. Forget that the service has already run for free for years. Here’s the actual quote from Wilson:

We are looking to monetize Battle.net so that we get to keep making these games and updating features. We kind of have to.

Poor Blizzard. Those millions of WoW subscribers probably just aren’t cutting the mustard these days, eh? I understand business is business, and you can’t fault a company for making money. However, this just reeks of “holy crap these losers will pay for this junk- charge for everything!”

I mean, it’s like paying for XBox Live all over again- only doing it for one developer. The thing that worries me about all this- what if it takes off? What if they sell special items or charge just to use it, and then some other developer sees that people will do it and then follows suit?

What do you guys think? Has Blizzard set themselves up for a huge epic fail with this one?

Source- CinemaBlend

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I write about samurai girls and space marines. Writer for Smooth Few Films. Rooster Teeth Freelancer. Author of Red vs. Blue, The Ultimate Fan Guide, out NOW!

8 thoughts on “Today’s WTF: Future Battle.net Won’t Be Free”

  1. Even though allot of people won’t agree with this, and I personally think its not a good idea. Allot of people will probably pay for it. And the charged items.

    This may turn out to be something drastic.
    Cause other companies could do it to.

    I don’t like the thought of that.

  4. Think of every person who is playing WoW right now. Think of that number and you will realize people will pay for it. Because we are willing to pay, they wont stop doing this. Games like Guild Wars are special, because they are actually good quality games that are free to play, I didnt say free to buy, but to play.

    They wont change things until they see repercussions.

  6. Whats more fail. That Blizz is doing this. Or that people are gonna pay three times for a game and then pay to play it?

  7. As if Blizzard needed more money. They get like 135 million a month (Roughly).

    Sweet Jebus. I wouldn’t mind having that cash laying around. Oh but wait, they want MORE money?

    They also OM NOM NOM’D Activision, for more monies.

    I call shenanigans. I was looking forward to SC2, but now I’m iffy. Why do they have to pull stuff like this? Why can’t it be like the original Starcraft where I buy the frickin’ disk and I can play online right there? How long has Battle.net been going on? Around 1999 I believe, and not one penny has left my pocket.

    Well, whatcha gonna do?

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