14 DAY TRIAL // Blizzard has announced Korean gamers who own an active World of Warcraft account will get to play StarCraft II for free as long as they maintain their subscription. Chris Sigaty, lead producer of the game, said that this was meant to be “a way of giving something back to such a supportive and skilled community of players.”
IGN also reported that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty already had a very flexible pricing scheme in South Korea. The full version of StarCraft II with unlimited access can be purchased for 69,000 won, which is about 57 dollars. A monthly pass is also available for Blizzard's Korean customers for 9,900 won, around 8 dollars, and a 24-hour pass for 2,000 won, or 1.5 dollars.
This could be seen as a measure to increase the popularity of World of Warcraft in Korea, as well as to establish a huge player base for StarCraft II at its launch, helping the early formation of the multiplayer community. The conflict between Blizzard and KeSPA, the Korean professional association for pro-gaming, is well known. The former is trying to cut off the latter from organizing e-sports leagues and matches of StarCraft II, planning on doing it itself.
Despite the government’s efforts to help KeSPA, which included giving StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty an Adults-Only rating, Blizzard has prevailed and established a closed platform for the game's multiplayer component and live TV broadcasting deals for the official matches. KeSPA has been the only entity to profit from the highly popular StarCraft professional leagues in Korea. The organization was recently hit by a huge scandal whose actors are 11 pro-gamers involved in match-fixing activities. The title will hit store shelves on the 27th of July this year, after one of the longest waits in videogaming history.