No in-game ads in Starcraft 2

45 Comments by Justin McElroy Mar 7th 2008 9:00AM
Filed under: PC, Strategy

When Bobby Kotick was discussing Guitar Hero expansion and the possibility of a Call of Duty MMO at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference last week, he also brought up a much less appetizing prospect: in-game advertising in StarCraft 2. ... Shh, if you're very quiet, you can hear fanboy hearts all over the world shattering and being replaced by churning, white-hot fury.

As much as we enjoy that sound, Blizzard has swooped in to explain that fans have nothing to be worried about, telling Blizzplanet, "We have no plans to have in-game advertising in StarCraft II. We believe Bobby was actually referring to Battle.net, which has always included ads." ... Well, thank the Overmind for that.

Tags: activision, blizzard, bobby-kotick, call-of-duty-mmo, guitar-hero, starcraft-2

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

Syko360: Mar 7th 2008; 9:04AM

*Wildly Applauds the Idiocracy Reference*

matthewmrussell: Mar 7th 2008; 9:31AM

beat me to it! THE THIRST MUTILATOR!!!!!

ogvor: Mar 7th 2008; 10:18AM

Welcome to Costco... I Love You

Favorite quote FTW

Zoesch: Mar 7th 2008; 10:19AM

"Plants don't need water, plants need brawndo, it's what plants crave, it's got electrolytes"

Such a criminally underrated movie

Viridium: Mar 7th 2008; 10:21AM

You like money too? We should hang out.

freecajunlove: Mar 7th 2008; 10:35AM

Wow! People actually like that movie? I thought the only good thing about that movie was that it made its audience the butt of the joke (i.e. if you like the movie, you are what's wrong with society).

Shagittarius: Mar 7th 2008; 10:52AM

I enjoyed that movie a lot. If you think I'm an idiot beacuse I liked it, perhaps you should look in a mirror.

mmxzero: Mar 7th 2008; 12:15PM

Go away, batin'!

ill trooper: Mar 7th 2008; 12:50PM

"Why come no tattoo?"

Syko360: Mar 7th 2008; 12:54PM

"Ah, don't worry dude a lot of tarded people go on to lead real kick ass lives. My first wife was tarded, now she's a pilot."

Such a great movie...Thanks for the quote tree above. =)

Donald: Mar 7th 2008; 1:19PM

I had nightmares about that movie because I realized the opening sequence is so goddamn accurate it's not funny.

baby sea tuna: Mar 7th 2008; 9:11AM

Brawndo's great and all (I mean, it's got Electrolytes) but it's still no Slurm.

Seriously though, what could they possibly advertise in a game like Starcraft without making the integration look totally forced? Obviously they're making the right decision here.

Justin McElroy: Mar 7th 2008; 9:16AM

But Brawndo's ... got electrolytes!

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Mar 7th 2008; 9:22AM

They could Advertise Winchester or Browning.

You know... Guns.

borland502 (SDF - Macross Ring): Mar 7th 2008; 9:25AM

The Queen of Blades trusts only Venus for her shaving needs.

Intentless: Mar 7th 2008; 9:12AM

So uh... Blizzard.... You wanna give us some real news... Like I don't know... When will my life end? (Translate as release date of Starcraft 2)

Hyams: Mar 7th 2008; 9:18AM

The problem with reporting news is that you're kind of limited with what news there actually is.

SugarDaddy: Mar 7th 2008; 9:20AM

Heh, when has Blizzard EVER given a release date? They're always of the philosophy that "we'll release it when it's good and ready."

And as much as I hate to wait, I'm glad Blizzard has that integrity. They never release a game (can't comment on WoW cuz I don't play it) that is not polished to perfection.

Right now, I'm more concerned when they're going to unveil the Zerg. Unfortunately, I fell like they're going to wait for E3 in July for that.

Intentless: Mar 7th 2008; 9:20AM

Ummm Thats why I kinda of asked Blizzard for news not Joystiq... I trust Joystiq to report it once Blizzard announces it so I kinda went to the source....

Intentless: Mar 7th 2008; 9:21AM

Ummm Thats why I kinda of asked Blizzard for news not Joystiq... I trust Joystiq to report it once Blizzard announces it so I kinda went to the source....

Intentless: Mar 7th 2008; 9:22AM

And Sugar Daddy... Yes I know and love Blizzard for their integrity and quality but that doesn't mean I don't want the game any less.. I want it now but I'm willing to wait... I just kinda wanna get my affairs in order before it comes out...

SugarDaddy: Mar 7th 2008; 9:26AM

@Intentless: Heh, true that. I'd wager they're pushing for a November/December of this year release, which means that it will probably end up coming out in February of next year.

But that's just a guess based on the fact that most game companies want to have their game out during the holiday shopping season, and also that Blizzard tends not to announce a game too far before its release.

So you better have your affairs in order because Gears of War 2 will be rolling out around the same time. ;)

Intentless: Mar 7th 2008; 9:31AM

No offense but I'm not exactly..... Excited for Gears 2... 1 was alright (Online was atrocious by my standards... Like 40 leaps back...)

I see myself playing lots of Halo 3, COD4 and potentially Vegas 2 for the remainder of the year and going into the next... I might get gears to play the single player co op.... But unless they really "gear" up the multiplayer I don't think I'll be getting it...

Blazur: Mar 7th 2008; 9:57AM

Latest rumor is the Vivendo CEO is claiming July/August. Either way, next Monday (March 10th) we'll likely see the Zerg for the first time, and may receive significant news. Stay tuned!

Intentless: Mar 7th 2008; 10:05AM

YAYYY!!!!!! I have all next week off from work... I'll be surfin the web for those updates!!

Gehodra: Mar 7th 2008; 1:06PM

@SugarDaddy

You're way too optimistic. If it was only delayed 3 months, it would be a record. I would be hella suprized if it came out before summer 09.

baby sea tuna: Mar 7th 2008; 9:21AM

"The problem with reporting news is that you're kind of limited with what news there actually is."

Not necessarily. You could always go the Fox route and just make it up!

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Mar 7th 2008; 9:23AM

NEWSFLASH: Starcraft 2 features user scripting sex scenes between the Protoss and Zerg. Naughty film at 11.

Donald: Mar 7th 2008; 1:20PM

I'll be there with Kleenex.

brady: Mar 7th 2008; 9:35AM

idiocracy sucks, a reference to that movie is scraping the bottom of a shallow barrel

Intentless: Mar 7th 2008; 9:36AM

You friend have stated an opinion. Thank you for you submission have a nice day...

Saneless: Mar 7th 2008; 9:52AM

Every article I see on IGA keeps talking about how great the publishers think they are, how happy the advertisers are, etc. WTF, can't anyone just point out how damned stupid the idea is and how much backlash it'll create?

Of course, if the games are free and they want to have IGA, I'm cool with that.

ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force): Mar 7th 2008; 9:57AM

It's a sad day for gaming when ingame advertising is expected to be the norm, and that the fact that a game is going to be ad-free is worthy of headlines.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Mar 7th 2008; 10:54AM

This is actually a follow up to previous rumors circulating the net that the game WOULD have in game adverts.

Judd: Mar 7th 2008; 10:11AM

So weird, I just saw that movie yesterday as part of my weekly college club movie.

Very obscure reference, I don't even think it was released in theaters.

Oh and as much as people joke about in-game advertisements in games like Warcraft/Starcraft, I don't think gamers or developers will allow the publishers to put ads in places where it wouldn't belong. I don't think there will be Coca-Cola ads in the Assassin's Creed sequel.

WiNG: Mar 7th 2008; 10:24AM

It was a commercial flop, but is slowly becoming a pass-it-on-to-your-neighbors hit.

Kinda like a move by the same guy, I think it's called "Office Space." Ever hear of it?

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Mar 7th 2008; 11:18AM

I don't think the developers have ANY control over what the publishers deem to put in the game as far as in game ads goes.

rTwelve: Mar 7th 2008; 11:41AM

UNACCEPTABLE!

wait wrong drink

Dio: Mar 7th 2008; 12:06PM

Excuse me, wtf is he thinking running his mouth off like that? ALL NEWS IS GOOD NEWS DHURR

SonofSeth: Mar 7th 2008; 12:38PM

HA! Kotnick pwned by Blizzard!

Judd: Mar 7th 2008; 12:46PM

Yes, WiNG I am familiar with the work of Mike Judge.

However, what distinguishes this movie from Office Space is that Fox TRIED to keep it out of theaters. They didn't like the anti-corporate message of the film(and I'm sure they weren't happy with the way it made fun of Fox News), so they only released it in 125 theaters because of contract obligations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy#Release_issues

This is opposed to Office Space, which just bombed in theaters. http://the-numbers.com/movies/1999/OFFIC.php

XLM: Mar 7th 2008; 1:09PM

http://brawndo.com/

Someone at my work ordered a case for a laugh.

Kujel: Mar 7th 2008; 1:19PM

It's good to hear their wont be in game ads, advertising can gargle my pouch.

hvnlysoldr: Mar 7th 2008; 3:00PM

They figured since Koreans are going to be playing this on nation wide broadcast TV that the rights to ads would get ridiculously complicated.

jSn: Mar 8th 2008; 7:02PM

Your children are now the custody of Carl's Jr.

"Brought to you by Carls Jr."

"WHY DO YOU KEEP SAYING THAT?!?"

"cuz they pay me every time i do - if you's so smart why din't you know that"

AHAHAHAHA LOVE THAT MOVIE - SO TERRIBLE.

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