Blizzard smashes StarCraft II cheaters
In the face with a big banhammer.
The game industry has gone banhammer crazy. This time it's Blizzard's turn: the PC developer has blocked 5000 accounts from playing phenomenal real-time strategy game StarCraft II.
"We recently took action, including suspensions and bans, on over 5000 StarCraft 2 players who were in violation of the Battle.net Terms of Use for cheating and/or using hack programs while playing," reads a message on Blizzard's site.
"In addition to undermining the spirit of fair competition that's essential to play on Battle.net, cheating and hacking can lead to stability and performance issues with the service. Maintaining a stable, safe, and secure online-gaming experience for legitimate players is a top priority for us, and we'll be continuing to keep watch on Battle.net and take action as needed."
Blizzard had warned players it was preparing its banhammer for action, so the move comes as no surprise.
StarCraft II broke PC game sales records upon its July launch.
It sold three million copies worldwide during its first month on sale. It is the fastest-selling RTS game ever, and the best-selling PC game so far this year.
Thankfully, StarCraft II is proper good.