StarCraft II Collector's Edition detailed

By Oli Welsh Published 9 April, 2010

Art book! Original game! Comic! €90!

Blizzard has announced that it will release a lavish Collector's Edition of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty when the hotly anticipated real-time strategy sequel launches later this year.

For the princely sum of €89.99 - the price in Her Majesty's Pounds is yet to be confirmed - you'll receive the game, the first in a planned trilogy of releases, and a bulging pack of extras.

These include a 176-page art book; a 2GB USB flash drive, preloaded with copies of the original StarCraft and its Brood War expansion, in the shape of Jim Raynor's dog tag; a behind-the-scenes DVD and soundtrack CD; a comic book, prequel to a forthcoming comic series; and an exclusive in-game pet for World of Warcraft, a miniature Thor unit.

You'll also get some exclusive downloadable bonuses for your account on the brand-spanking new Battle.net service: portraits for your profile, decals to customise your in-game units and a "visually unique version" of the Thor.

Most importantly, it all comes in a big, heavy box.

If you don't fancy the Collector's Edition you can always pick up the standard edition of the game (suggested retail price: €59.99) at retail, or shortly after launch, as a download from the Blizzard Store.

In related news, StarCraft II lead designer Dustin Browder has suggested to Game Informer that players should invest some serious time in the online game - 30 to 60 hours - before tackling one-on-one multiplayer.

He views co-operative play versus AI, and team matches, to be stepping stones to what could be the toughest challenge in competitive gaming.

"We're definitely going to be looking at Achievements and other tools to encourage our players, once they graduate from co-operative vs. AI to move into team play before they move into 1v1... It's a much more casual environment than the 1v1... We really consider the 1v1 the final, endgame, arena-style gameplay that we hope players will only get to after 30, 40, 50, 60 hours played depending on their enthusiasm for it." Fear it.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will also include challenge mode mini-games to introduce solo players to the basics of multiplayer strategy, and, of course, a full-length solo campaign in which players will lead Terran forces.

It still has no release date, but is expected in the first half of this year - so before the end of June - for PC and Mac.

Picture of Oli.

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 (12) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • Xerx3s #1 2 years ago

    60 euro for a standard PC game?!

  • Hamflank #2 2 years ago

    How is a StarCraft II a standard game? Battle.net?

  • UncleLou #3 2 years ago

    60 euro for a standard PC game?!

    It's Activision, mind. They did that with CoD as well.

  • Hamflank #4 2 years ago

    Seriously, whining about a 10 euro difference for a game that has seen more development time than any other and gets patches and expanded upon for the next 10 years or so. Not to mention the free use of Battle.net.

    Holy mother of Jesus, why can't people just stop complaining and be happy the damn thing is being released.

  • UncleLou #5 2 years ago

    Doesn't matter much anyhow as the game will be cheaper at retail - but it has nothing to do with development time or Battle.net, and all with Activision having raised the RRP for all games where they think they can get away with it. Not that I really mind, a simple case of supply and demand.

  • Xerx3s #6 2 years ago

    Except that it's not just 10 euro. That's more than what most console games cost on launch. There is no reason why this should cost as much, especially because it is cut up in 3 episodes. It's attitudes like that that let them get away with this kind of bs and constantly increase prices with absurd rates. This is what encourages piracy.
    I also wouldn't exactly call Bnet a plus any more as it is more about DRM than anything else now.

  • UncleLou #7 2 years ago

    Except that it's not just 10 euro. That's more than what most console games cost on launch.

    You seem to compare the RRP with actual market prices. RRP for most PC games here in Germany is around 50, for console games it's often 70 EUR, so it's exactly 10 more than the usual RRP for PC games.

    I've picked up MW2 (PC) for 40,- in a retail store when the RRP was 60,-.

  • mc_mclovin #8 2 years ago

    60 euros for a standard pc game???? (infact, its not even that really, seeing as they've split it into a trilogy!)

    Makes mw2 and the stimulus package look cheap!! lol

    I know this is a blizzard game, but i see activisions hand in the pricing of this!! that company sure knows how to win friends and influence ppl!! lol

    So is this what we can expect from games publishers know will sell well, inflated prices, overcharged dlc, et al??

    On a side note, still cant believe the stimulus package sold 2.5 million.....and its not even on ps3 or pc yet!

    Edit....

    @ Hamflank serously, that attitude "Holy mother of Jesus, why can't people just stop complaining and be happy the damn thing is being released" is EXACTLY why companies like activision feel they can charge whatever the hell they like....problem is, it sets a precedent, and others will follow.......resulting in inflated prices for all games, simply because they know they can!!
    Edited by mc_mclovin at 09/04/10 @ 10:01

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #9 2 years ago

    this is the reason why we all flock to Asda, shop.to, play.com and Tesco on release day it's aways cheaper... All Activision are doing is screwing over places like HMV and Game/Gamestation as they HAVE to sell it at RRP as they can't 'limited time' any offers as unlike Adsa/Tesco they ARE specalists, whereas the other two are just supermarkets and can just say anything to justify the £20 3 day 'events'

  • ignatiusjreilly #10 2 years ago

    Well, if it ends up being the same price as MW2 was in the UK I definitely won't buy it. Shame as I'd not actually played Starcraft before and was looking forward to seeing what all the fuss is about, but £40-50 is way too much for me to pay for a game.

    Edit: are PC games important enough to warrant massive discounting at supermarkets? I'm not so sure.
    Edited by ignatiusjreilly at 09/04/10 @ 10:07

  • Akatsuki #11 2 years ago

    Looking forward to this.

    As for the whole price argument:

    1. Its a collectors edition, normal RRp is 34.99
    2.Games outside of the UK can be pretty darn expensive. We are very lucky to pay the kind of prices we do here.

    so i expect this collectors tome or whatever it will end up being to be around 50 pounds sterling RRP, just like the WoW expansions collector editions are.

    And Blizzard collector stuff is awesome, you really do get alot for your money so dont go comparing bloomin MW2 dlc with this or bringing in activision. If your new to starcraft then get the normal version.


  • orakio #12 2 years ago

    It's worth what people will pay for it I guess... Although I wouldn't want to be in the average student's shoes these days.
    I agree with the comment about piracy. I guess the activision markeracketeers have had plenty of time to think over the ideal price for a maximum income. Alas.