Blizzard's Korean community manager Kicho has hinted of a possible open beta, saying StarCraft II will be available for "all fans of the franchise", not just press and VIPs.

"We know that all of you are very curious about the development of the Beta with the release of many Starcraft 2 Beta Testing related news across various news portals," Kicho said in a message to the community. However, the specifics of beta testing have not been finalized yet and Blizzard is not yet ready to give out details. The team is apparently doing what it can to introduce StarCraft 2 as quickly as possible, something we have reported on previously.

"I can definitely say that the Beta test will not just involve industry experts and other VIPs but rather will involve all fans of the franchise," he said. This would in effect mean an open beta period.

The question is of course if this implied open beta will start after the promised closed beta, or if all the beta keys given away so far effectively have become worthless. An alternative is that it just means the fans so far already having received keys for various reasons.

We have contacted Blizzard for a comment on the matter, stay tuned to IncGamers for more info as we get it.

We also recommend the StarCraft 2 channel for further StarCraft II beta news.

Comments

Cogo (1) Posted: 13:44 on 05 Feb 2010

I sincerely hope this is true!

Gunnar Petzall (2) Posted: 13:46 on 05 Feb 2010 Somerset, UK

I would believe any open beta would be after the closed beta, and then only for a time period they need to properly stress test the game. Last open beta they had was WoW in 2005/2006.

Flinty McNoodle (3) Posted: 13:56 on 05 Feb 2010 United Kingdom

They should do this as it will put the servers through their paces and mean there will be minimum nasty surprises post release. Too many games launch without testing these things and end users, who are expecting a polished product, are inconvenienced. Good one Blizzard!

nasarius (4) Posted: 19:41 on 05 Feb 2010 Berlin

There's been the general beta opt-in (with Starcraft, Diablo, and Warcraft universes) ever since the new Battle.net site launched, so obviously they're going to be using that pool for *something*...

Milkman (5) Posted: 22:13 on 10 Feb 2010 Netherlands

Beta opt in start this month! (according to the blizz shareholders presentation) GREAT NEWS ;)

Milkman (6) Posted: 22:19 on 10 Feb 2010 Netherlands

The goal Blizzard is aiming for the final release is mid 2010. Before that thousands gamers all over the world (who subscribed) can get an Beta invitation to test the game till the release date.