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‘StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty’ is now free to play, throws shade at ‘Battlefront II’

Kevin Parrish
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StarCraft II
If you’ve been curious about the fuss surrounding StarCraft II but have never given it a go, now is the time to dive in. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty‘s latest update, which is live now, makes the real-time strategy game free to play. If interested, head over to the official StarCraft II website to download the game.

Blizzard celebrated the arrival with a cheeky 30-second ad that pokes fun at games perceived to have “pay-to-win” models such as Star Wars Battlefront II.

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Number of pay-to-win mechanics in StarCraft II: 0

Free to Play – Now Live! pic.twitter.com/a02OYUCYZU

— StarCraft (@StarCraft) November 14, 2017

The free-to-play update was originally announced at BlizzCon 2017 by Blizzard Entertainment CEO and co-founder Michael Morhaime on November 3. And although the game’s three expansions — Heart of the Swarm, Legacy of the Void, and Nova Covert Ops — are not subject to the free-to-play model, if you already owned Wings of Liberty prior to October 31, you now have access to Heart of the Swarm for free. Each expansion can also be purchased for $15 a piece.

Additionally, if you purchased any version of StarCraft II prior to October 31 you should be receiving an Eidolon Ghost skin, and three portraits commemorating your founder’s status in-game.

Along with the campaign, everyone now has full access to the StarCraft II ranked ladder and to every co-op Commander in the game up to level five, including Kerrigan, Raynor, and Artanis. But Blizzard’s generosity doesn’t stop there, as everyone has free access to unranked and versus artificial intelligence modes, and ranked mode can be unlocked after achieving 10 First Wins of the Day in Unranked and Versus A.I.

Beyond the free-to-play update, new content has arrived in StarCraft II. A dual commander consisting of Mira Han for commanding fast-moving ground units, and Matt Horner for commanding high-powered Dominion air units is available now alongside a fresh co-op mission called “Part and Parcel.”

Here are the system requirements for StarCraft II and its expansions:

Minimum Recommended
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+		 Intel Core i5
AMD FX Series
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 7600 GT
AMD Radeon HD 2600 XT
Intel HD Graphics 3000		 Nvidia GeForce GTX 650
AMD Radeon HD 7790
Memory: 2GB 4GB
Storage: 30GB 30GB
Display: 1024 x 768 1024 x 768
Operating system: Windows 10
Windows 8/8.1
Windows 7		 Windows 10 64-bit
Internet: Broadband Broadband

Updated to reflect that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is now free to play.

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