Do People Play StarCraft Anymore?
You have to go back as far as 1998 to find StarCraft’s launch to the masses. Within a matter of months, the game had established itself as something of a cultural phenomenon.
It was one of the biggest commercial successes of https://www.blizzard.com/ in the 1990s, reaffirming real-time strategy gaming as one of the most engaging and enduring of all game genres. Set in a futuristic environment engaged in intergalactic combat, overseeing the three factions of the Protoss, Terran, and Zerg proved to be a gripping experience.
Early critical acclaim
In 1998, StarCraft comfortably cemented its position as the best-selling computer game of the year. The follow decade, Blizzard Entertainment would shift a further 9.5 million units, almost half of which (4.5 million) were sold to South Korean gamers.
Blizzard’s Battle.net online multiplayer platform experienced an eight-fold rise in player participation, which helped act as a proving ground for StarCraft as an early-stage Esport.
In terms of critical reception, GameRankings handed it a whopping 93% rating, while Metacritic followed suit with a similarly strong 88 out of 100 rating.
One of the earliest Esports titles
The multiplayer element of StarCraft helped catapult the game into a competitive pursuit for many around the world. As internet connectivity accelerated and improved in reliability, strategy games like StarCraft gave rise to a new era of competitive video gaming. It was South Korea where StarCraft established itself as one of the most influential PC titles in popular culture. In fact, “professional” StarCraft players in South Korea achieved notoriety akin to global popstars.
There have been several professional StarCraft players who’ve used this game as a proving ground to advance to other competitive pursuits. Dutch gamer, Lex Veldhuis, was a professional StarCraft player having been attracted to StarCraft: Brood War in his earlier years. Veldhuis then graduated into the world of online poker, using his head for strategy to win pots rather than campaigns. He’s since become a long-term brand ambassador at https://www.pokerstars.uk/poker/, which is one of the longest established online poker rooms in Europe and Canada. Veldhuis remains part of the gaming community thanks to his live Twitch channel, which has a committed base of over 320,000 followers.
Veldhuis wasn’t one of the big names in South Korean StarCraft though. Those prized seats were reserved for the likes of Lim “BoxeR” Yo-hwan and Lee “Flash” Young-ho. Fans would tune in religiously to watch their favorite gamers lock horns on television and online. However, this game doesn’t compare with the earnings on offer in Esports titles like CS:GO and Counter-Strike 2, as displayed at https://pley.gg/news/top-25-highest-earning-players-cs-go-history-1/.
Has 2017’s remastered release fanned the flames?
Blizzard’s move to remaster the original StarCraft version in 2017 was met with significant fanfare in the gaming community. A high-definition version, complete with 21st century matchmaking functionality, made for a worthwhile update. The audiovisual updates were a nostalgic boon for veteran StarCrafters, while making the game more accessible to newbies.
The remastered StarCraft title also helped to bring competitive real-time strategy gaming to the fore once again. For first-time players, the 2017 version became an apt segue into one of the genre’s most influential experiences in a fresher, modern format. In South Korea, StarCraft remains a serious profession within its Esports industry, with high-profile tournaments still readily taking place. Inside and outside South Korea, there’s also an active StarCraft modding community, designing and building bespoke missions and maps, as well as new campaigns.
There are several reasons why StarCraft is still on the hitlist of many competitive gamers. Not least its depth of gameplay. There aren’t many real-time strategy PC games which deliver the same complexity, with the trio of Zerg, Terran, and Protoss factions capable of unleashing new scenarios every session.
It’s not a strategy game that’s easy to master. In fact, some StarCraft fanatics have dedicated their lives to cracking the game. Doing so requires the ability to think and act like a chess player. Although the game is no longer a standout in the world of Esports as it was in the post-millennium era, the 2017 remaster has enabled StarCraft to live on in its proud virtual community of fans.
