Starcraft 2 just went free-to-play (partially) in this massive new patch

Well here’s some news you probably never expected to hear: Starcraft 2 is now free-to-play. Or at least, large parts of the game are. In a new patch to SC2 expansion Heart of the Swarm, Blizzard has made the game’s arcade mode and custom games free to play for anyone who downloads the free Starcraft 2 starter edition. And yes, all three races are now playable even for free players in the arcade.

In case you’re not already downloading that, here’s a video from Blizzard with the details:

Obviously the game has not become totally free, and players who want to experience the single player story (among other things) will still have to pony up some cash. But with all the arcade content and all custom games and all three races playable, you can now get an awful lot of Starcraft 2 without ever spending a penny.

As you can see, in addition to making a lot of the game free-to-play, Blizzard has also updated several aspects of online games, allowing gamers to create in-game events, mods, further customize their clans, and even allow clans to fly customized flags above their bases in-game. Plus, music from the original Starcraft and Brood War has been added to the game.

You can check out the complete patch notes here, but long story short: Starcraft 2 just got a big update and it’s a whole lot freer.