Blizzard DOTA free but "there will be costs"

By Oli Welsh Published 22 October, 2011

You can play it without buying SC2.

StarCraft 2 mod Blizzard DOTA will be playable for free without buying a copy of the main game - but the company does have plans to monetise it.

Production director Chris Sigaty confirmed to Eurogamer that the game will be playable via the free-to-download trial version, StarCraft 2 Starter Edition. "But if you come in through the Starter Edition, there will definitely be some costs," he said.

The Starter Edition of StarCraft 2 currently includes access to the Terran race in basic multiplayer, a few missions from the campaign and the StarJeweled official mod. "DOTA will be playable through Starter Edition as well and it's free to play," Sigaty said.

Sigaty couldn't confirm plans for how players will be charged, as these are still being worked out. But the idea is that owners of StarCraft 2 and its expansions will be given some or all of this content for free.

"We haven't really talked about exactly how [we will monetise Blizzard DOTA], we're still looking at that, but there will be some ways," Sigaty said. "Certainly Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm will get some advantages to you in DOTA, as far as if and when we monetise it; they will give you some ins. We're still talking about how that will work."

We'll have more info on Blizzard DOTA from BlizzCon shortly.

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (11) Latest comment 7 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • bantamenace #1 7 months ago

    Long Live Bantamprogressivism Bradford City Forever xxx

  • Rajin #2 7 months ago

    Better make it all the content for the owners of Liberty and Swarm..... Understandable that they charge for those who don't own starcraft 2

  • xuiton #3 7 months ago

    no thanks i'll play dota 2.

  • King_of_Hyrule #4 7 months ago

    "Free but there will be costs?" So basically... not free

  • Vedfolner #5 7 months ago

    "There will be costs" seems to be the all dominating mantra for most game publishers these days.

  • Canyarion #6 7 months ago

    Just buy SC2. You're getting so much more than DOTA.

  • bobfish09 #7 7 months ago

    @Canyarion

    Sure, except I think SC2 sucks and I have no intention of wasting my money on it.

  • Vixremento #8 7 months ago

    @Vedfolner
    Agreed. I do however seem to notice this a little more with Blizzard recently:
    - Get WoW subbers to commit to 12 months for a free copy of D3 (guarantees that D3 doesn't distract them from WoW and even if it does then who cares).
    - Gives them a 12 month ticket to come up with the next "Free D3 Expansion" offer for an additional 12 month commit to a WoW sub once this one dies.
    - They still take money off of the RMAH in D3 and they'll be able to track WoWers that use the service to see if it'll be viable in WoW.
    ...Money money money! I can't say I wouldn't be doing the same though if I was in their position - if the gamers are willing to be milked then drink up all the dairy you can while you can, implement the nastiest and (to date) most reliable DRM and tell your customers it's to make their gaming environment better (because they couldn't control it in the past)!

  • dirtysteve #9 7 months ago

    'monetise' God how I hate that word. It always seems like a prelude to getting fucked.

  • JahB #10 7 months ago

    @bobfish09
    Sc2 sucks? Go back to playing cod then, you clearly haven't the slightest clue about video games.

  • jrb #11 7 months ago

    this is going to fail if it's as complicated as having to download a trial version of a game then a convoluted process of getting an addon installed.

    Blizzard need to realise the game market has moved to an almost console level of ease through the use of Steam. Put the product on there as a free download, and monetise the game through DLC content such as a characters, and in-game items. Especially if it's going up against the likes of LoL and HoN, and the soon to be renamed DOTA2 ;-)