14 DAY TRIAL // Blizzard is preparing to roll out a new version of its matchmaking service Battle.net alongside the launch of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and the company is not afraid of going to the justice courts to make sure that no one manages to crack the system and then use it to put up pirate multiplayer servers that can deliver a subpar experience, which will reflect negatively on the developer.
A statement from Blizzard offered to Gamasutra says, “It's important to note that we aggressively protect our copyrights and the security of Battle.net. In addition to providing players with a high-quality online experience for Blizzard Entertainment games, the service is one of the most effective measures we have for preventing piracy of our software over the internet.”
Recently, Blizzard filed and then withdrew a lawsuit against a group of hackers who worked under the name of StarCrack and aimed to deliver a piece of the beta for single player games with Artificial Intelligence upgraded from that offered by Blizzard itself. The company is stating that “We don't discuss the details of litigation-related matters, but we can confirm that the matter has been resolved in a way that has allowed us to dismiss the lawsuit.”
Blizzard says its main aim is making sure that nothing spoils the Battle.net and StarCraft II experiences by delivering services, which look similar but lack functionality or are dominated by cheaters.
The company announced that more than 300,000 Battle.net accounts for offenses linked to the Terms of Use and cheating done in Warcraft III and in Diablo II, two of the older titles that are playable using the service, were destroyed. This is seen as a warning related to the big launches Blizzard is planning this year, that of real time strategy sequel StarCraft II and that of MMO expansion package Cataclysm for World of Warcraft.