Yesterday word got out that Starcraft II won’t offer LAN support due to “planned technology to be incorporated into Battle.net.” Gamers around the world, including me, were left collectively scratching their heads wondering what Blizzard was up to.

Today Blizzard sent word expanding on yesterday’s announcement: “We don’t currently plan to support LAN play with StarCraft II, as we are building Battle.net to be the ideal destination for multiplayer gaming with StarCraft II and future Blizzard Entertainment games. While this was a difficult decision for us, we felt that moving away from LAN play and directing players to our upgraded Battle.net service was the best option to ensure a quality multiplayer experience with StarCraft II and safeguard against piracy.

Several Battle.net features like advanced communication options, achievements, stat-tracking, and more, require players to be connected to the service, so we’re encouraging everyone to use Battle.net as much as possible to get the most out of StarCraft II. We’re looking forward to sharing more details about Battle.net and online functionality for StarCraft II in the near future.”

There you have it folks. Piracy, achievements and stat tracking are why LAN play was cut out of Starcraft II. I can’t say I agree with the decision, but I understand why Blizzard made it.

Source: Joystiq.com