StarCraft is now completely free

Posted on April 20, 2017

The original StarCraft game as well as its expansion, Brood War, has been released completely free.

Blizzard has revealed the news just a few weeks after announcing they would be remastering the classic game.

Alongside the free update comes patch 1.18, the first patch StarCraft has had in 8 years. The new patch will bring about some quality of life improvements for the game and bug fixes. The list of changes can be found below, taken from the StarCraft website.

starcraft 1.18

Bug Fixes

  • Added windowed fullscreen or windowed mode; use Alt+Enter to switch between.
  • Added UTF-8 support.
  • Added cursor clamping in-game while windowed; unclamped in menus.
  • Added Popular Maps to streamline finding games or game types.
  • Added options to display actions per minute.
  • Added Observer mode.
  • Added opponent information when joining a game lobby.
  • Added autosaving for replays.
  • Added an option to display the game timer.
  • Added UPnP support.
  • Updated to a new OpenGL backend.
  • Improved gameplay responsiveness during multiplayer by increasing turn rate to match LAN speeds over Battle.net.
  • Improved UI layout in Battle.net sections.
  • Improved behavior of available lobbies within the ‘Join Game’ section.
  • Improved compatibility with Windows 7, 8.1, and 10.
  • Improved anticheat capabilities.
  • Improved installation and patching performance.
  • Mac Beta support now available for 10.11 and up.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed palette issues to correct rainbow water, 80s Kerrigan face in the loading screen, and other graphic glitches.
  • Fixed problems with LAN game discovery.
  • Fixed IME support and other text artifacts in Battle.net menus.
  • LAN and Legacy Battle.net fixes.