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[illusionary]

Nothing for me personally, but VG24/7 are reporting that certain people are receiving gifted copies of Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty from Blizzard, when they log in to the Battle.net application. They're speculating that the game might be about to go free-to-play - which would surprise me a little, when there's already the Starter Edition - but has anyone here been lucky enough to receive a copy, or have any educated guesses as to what might have prompted this?

https://www.vg247.com/2017/01/23/bl...craft-2-is-wings-of-liberty-about-to-go-free/

Have you logged into your Battle.net account recently? You may have a free copy of StarCraft 2 waiting for you!

A number of players are reporting that StarCraft 2 has showed up in their Battle.net libraries without them purchasing it.

The gift is being sent from Blizzard directly, and those who received it, saw a message that said, ”You have been granted a free game." The game in this case being Wings of Liberty, StarCraft 2's first expansion.

There doesn't appear to be any particular criteria for why certain people received it and not others, but the most obvious one is the fact all the recipients did not own the game prior. Some believe it's due to them playing the free trial at some point, though it's unclear.

Blizzard has not officially announced the move, but it's unlikely to be made in error. The more likely scenario is that the studio could be about to make Wings of Liberty completely free, like it's done with old World of Warcraft expansions.

Wings of Liberty is around seven years-old, and making it free could give the game a boost in player numbers, particularly in multiplayer.

Until Blizzard clarifies what's going on, it may be worth launching the Battle.net app to see if you've been selected.

Update: from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertc...-blizzard-has-given-you-starcraft-2-for-free/

Update: Blizzard has confirmed to me that yes, this is actually legitimate and they're giving people Wings of Liberty licenses for free. They will not tell me how they are choosing who gets the licenses, just saying they like to experiment with different kinds of promotions. So just keep checking, I suppose, as there's no way to know when this experiment will end.

 

[Evolution of Metal]

Looks like I can install the game as if I had it. I did not own it previously but played the trial.

Diablo and others still say "Play Trial".

 

[capitalCORN]

F2P would definitely spring new life to the game. I hope it takes that course.

 

[Draft]

Wings of Liberty is around seven years-old

 

[spawnsniper]

Yes!

But how do I become a peoiple?

 

[illusionary]

Looks like I can install the game as if I had it. I did not own it previously but played the trial.

Diablo and others still say "Play Trial".

Do you see the game listed here? https://eu.battle.net/account/management/

 

[DevilDog]

Nvm, I think.

 

[Ourobolus]

I apparently have the "Starter Edition" in my library. Is that it?

 

[dave is ok]

Makes sense they would do this in the hopes people might play it and buy HOTS/LOTV after

 

[Platypus]

That's nice, I guess.

 

[Jafku]

I apparently have the "Starter Edition" in my library. Is that it?

no. That's a free trial

 

[Ourobolus]

no. That's a free trial

ah, darn.

 

[Harl3]

It's a great gift, but nothing here.

 

[jambo]

I think this happened to my account at some point, but with Heart of the Swarm.

I bought a retail copy of Starcraft II back when it launched, but never ended up buying Swarm.

Then one day it was in my Battle.Net library with no reason or message.