Blizzard brings Premium Arcade to Starcraft II – Paid Mods?
Blizzard brings Premium Arcade to Starcraft II – Paid Mods?
While many of you will immediately see this as a potential repeat of Steam’s “Paid Mods”, Blizzard’s approach seems to be with specific creators, taking a curated approach to selecting maps for their Premium Arcade. Contrast this to Steam’s Paid Mods system where anyone could create a mod for the system, resulting in rampant mod theft before the system was ultimately abandoned.Â
The first of these two maps, though it may be more accurate to call these game modes, is called ARK Star, a tactical turn-based RPG that is based in the Starcraft Universe. Here players take the role of a Protoss Sol Seekers, an elite team of templar who are on a mission to destroy a weapon called the ARK Star.Â
Throughout this adventure players can upgrade their quad with better equipment, craft new weapons, earn new talents and ability and bring the wrath of the templar onto your foes. Below is a video which showcases this new map/game mode.Â
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The second of these new maps is Direct Strike, a map from Tya which acts as an enhanced form of Desert Strike, an existing creation on the Starcraft II arcade. Direct Strike will be available in free and paid for forms, replacing Desert Strike. The free version of Direct Strike will feature everything in Desert Strike, which means that free users won’t get a downgraded release.Â
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   For those unfamiliar with the original, Direct Strike pits players against each other in a tactical “tug of war.†Build units to spawn into your staging area, and send them out in waves to assault the enemy base.
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Both of these new Premium Arcade maps are available for $4.99, with a share of the earning from each sale going to the modders/creators responsible. At this time Blizzard has not revealed how much of each purchase will go to creators.Â
You can join the discussion on Blizzard’s Premium Arcade maps for Starcraft II on the OC3D Forums.Â