Blizzard Uses StarCraft II Launch to Present Facebook Integration

In a move that will surprise no one, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, which is poised to be the biggest real time strategy launch of the year, is set to be the reason for a new partnership between Blizzard, the developer renowned for Diablo and World of Warcraft, and Facebook, the biggest social network service in the world at the moment. The main aim of the partnership will be to make sure that it is as easy as possible to get Facebook friends into the multiplayer matches of StarCraft II.

Blizzard is saying that the ongoing beta stage for the real time strategy will first benefit from the integration with the full game also offering it when it arrives on July 27. The simple friend addition service will be followed by other integration options after the launch of the title.

They might include an option to add achievements linked to the game on Facebook and easily share information about the stats of the player. There's the possibility that Blizzard is creating a free-to-play StarCraft-based game specifically designed to use Facebook as an advertising conduit.

Paul Sams, the Chief Operating Officer of Blizzard Entertainment, stated, “We're pleased to be working with Facebook to integrate their platform with Battle.net to enhance the social-entertainment experience for our players. This new functionality will make it easier than ever to connect with friends on Battle.net and play StarCraft II and future Blizzard Entertainment games together.”

StarCraft II has been confirmed as having 39 full single player missions, which will throw a variety of challenges at the player and will also offer challenges designed so that their completion will afford a player the skills needed to then jump into multiplayer. Analysts expect StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty to sell around 5 million copies in its first year on sale.