StarCraft II Gets DRM

Blizzard’s Dustin Browder told IncGamers DRM will be included in StarCraft II.

The hugely popular developer has previously had very few intrusive tools in their games to prevent piracy, but StarCraft II will be the first one to go in a different direction. Besides excluding LAN mode, which is one of the reasons the original game was such a success in the first place, the game will also have a mild form of DRM protection, a second new move.

In order to install the game, “you need to connect once to install the game,” StarCraft II lead designer Browder revealed. A player will also either have or sign up for a Battle.net account during the installation process.

This is of course a very unintrusive form of DRM, and most fans will likely take it with a stride, as they already have a Battle.net account, or will appreciate the new Battle.net as they sign up. However, it’s a first for Blizzard to require any such registration by the player, and could possibly be influence by the much more DRM-friendly Activision since the merger.

You can read the whole interview here, and also check out our big upcoming StarCraft II Single Player Hands-On Preview, new single player screenshots as well as new single player gameplay video footage.