StarCraft II deemed the best-selling PC game of 2010

Matthew DeCarlo

Posts: 5,271   +104

As one of the most anticipated titles of all time, StarCraft II has (unsurprisingly) broken numerous sales records according to the bean counters over at Activision. Wings of Liberty released simultaneously in 11 languages across North America, Europe, South Korea, Australia, along with many other regions around the globe on July 27, and more than 8,000 stores celebrated the launch by opening at midnight.

The title sold a million copies worldwide (including online sales we assume), making it the best-selling PC game of 2010 within its first 24 hours of availability. In 48 hours, the long-awaited RTS was purchased 1.5 million times, the fastest of any game in its genre. Additionally, it's reportedly GameStop's quickest-selling PC game since Wrath of the Lich King, the 2008 expansion to Blizzard's World of Warcraft.


That success will continue with analysts expecting six million units to ship by the end of 2010. Before the comparison is made to Modern Warfare 2, which sold 4.7 million copies on day one, it's worth mentioning that StarCraft II is PC-only, and real-time strategies aren't as popular as first person shooters to begin with. If you're looking to get in on the action, be sure to check out our in-depth performance review.

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I never got on the original StarCraft bandwagon. Haven't played this one either. Is it really that good??
 
if you're an RTS player than i can't think of too many games that are better or as good. it's a great game to play over a local network and online but the single player is less amazing if you ask me. no surprise that it's been flying off the shelves (or digital store hard drives) but like i said if you like RTS games there's no reason you shouldn't play it at least once. it's not really my cup of tea but it's still a good game.
 
I did play the original starcraft, although mostly the 3 campaigns (terran, protoss and Zerg), I don't remember playing it online. I tried the beta and obviously eleven years later the game has better graphics, three to five new units besides the originals per race and new terrains, but for me it is much of the same stuff, so I'm not much interested, I'm more of a Civilization-style strategy guy.
 
As the second poster said, if you play RTS games (or have an interest in them) then you should definitely try StarCraft. If you have a friend who purchased it you can snag their Guest pass which has 7 hours of playtime on it.

StarCraft is fantastic because it is simple, yet very deep and complex. There is no one strategy that rules them all. You can play in such varying styles using the same unit compositions, it's amazing.

If you like RTS, or ever wanted to play one, check out StarCraft. You won't be disappointed.
 
:) I loved the original. I still play it occasionally, and I really enjoy watching replays (probably more than playing, because I'm not too great). I played the pre-release version of StarCraft II for a couple of hours and it seemed impressive.

It's a tough game to get hooked on for me, because like most RTS games, there's a steep learning curve. SC can be ridiculously complex, and most of us just don't have the time it takes to master.

I don't know how well the new ladder system works, but I imagine it'll help ease people into the multiplayer portion. Does anyone have any thoughts on it? Is it easier to find an opponent of a similar skill level?
 
not sure if it's simple... i mean there's a certain type of person that would be able to excel at playing it well. i would agree that it is very complex, and i for one, can rarely keep up with the frantic pace of the single player missions. i would rather team up with other players but as previously stated, there really aren't any fail-proof strategies or methods to beat your opponents. i don't really play too many RTS games but i will occasionally pick up StarCraft because i know it's solid and a real challenge.
 
I should clarify what I meant by "simple". I mean that there aren't dozens upon dozens of units and buildings and upgrades to utilize. The overall scope of buildings and units can be grasped easily. There are other RTS' which have far too many units, upgrades, etc. making the game less "simple" in that regard.
 
Great numbers for Blizzard, I don't think anyone is really surprised by this. Being a big RTS fan myself I still haven't gotten the chance to pick it up =X. But I'm not in to big of a hurry and will eventually get it in the next month or so.

Guest has a point, SC is rather simple in those terms compared to other RTS games which are more along the lines of a RTT/TBS game. The amount of complexity in those games can be quite overwhelming with very steep learning curves and are by no means a fast game like SC.
 
Yeah, I agree that it's easy enough to grasp the tech trees and unit development, but I think those of us saying it's complex are referring to the strategy element. Understanding and applying tactics can be very complicated, which is why there's such a divide in skill levels. Being able to think and click fast also helps heh.
 
The best bonus to the game is the unmatched pvp system. Unlike other pvp systems like wow you don't need to spend hours farming the top gear so you can melt face. Its just simple mental strategy and practice that rules on the battlefield you can turn it on for 30 mins for a quick game and play for fun and not be stuck on it for hours killing same raid bosses. Imo its the ultimate casual gaming pvp much like the cod series but the campaign is extremely enjoyable as well.
 
I find II to be mostly the same old and a bit boring.
The original Starcraft was innovative--II has some nice graphics, but little else that is new.
 
I was a little surprised to see this - because SC2 didn't sell like that around where I live. I thought about pre-ordering it, but decided if I had to I could wait - I didn't have to have it release day. But I decided to check for a copy after work anyways. So I stopped by Best Buy and they still had full section of the game - like 3 of those 4ft shelf sections stacked full of them.
I know with the WotLK expansion for WoW if you didn't pre-order - you didn't get a copy. But I guess there i just more WoW players than SC players around here.
 
I've played both. Played all 3 campaigns completely on the first one, then shifted to only LAN/Online play. The skill level of most of the players for SC 1 that play limited resources is very high, so I ended up playing mostly the speed maps, the ones with unlimited resources. That has a very different strategy to it, but in the games where there isn't a clearly better player it turns into a pretty complex game of strategy. People using dark swarm and other end of the tech tree like powers.

For SC 2 I'm still playing the single player campaign, the story is pretty good and its challenging. I began playing it on 'Hard' difficulty and got through 5 or so missions, then it became extremely difficult and I guess I'm not familiar enough yet with all the new tech so after losing 3 or 4 times I've switched the difficulty to Normal. So far every level I've died 3x on on Hard I've beaten 1st try on Normal, and pretty easily. Seems there is a pretty big jump between difficulties.

I know some people are complaining that it is much the same as the original, and I agree, its pretty similar. Unlike others though, I'm really glad it didn't change that much. I don't have as much time now to play compared to 10-12 years ago, so keeping it very similar has helped me be able to jump in to this without a whole lot of problems.
 
I have been spending most of my free time over the past week and a half playing, so I can offer my opinion.

Most of my time has been spent on the campaign. I think Blizzard did an excellent job with the way the missions work, the achievements for the missions, and varied nature of each mission. In between each mission, you also get to chat with the characters, play an arcade game, and purchase permanent upgrades for you units (the upgrades only apply to the rest of your single player campaign, of course). I have been playing through the game on hard, and I have found it to be challenging, but not overly challenging. For me, the hardest part of playing on hard is trying to get all the achievements on one play through. They add a lot more difficulty than if I was just barreling through the missions.

I have also played a decent amount of melee games online. At first, I was terrible because I have never been a "great" RTS player. Usually just mediocre. But, I had the disadvantage of not playing the beta so the whole game was new for me. I started off practicing against some CPUs, and after a few games of being coached by my friend, I now have a good grasp on Terran. I still have no idea how to play Protoss or Zerg, though. I played five 3v3 league games this morning with some friends, and the multiplayer feels a lot different to me than SC1. The fog of war works a lot better. Cliffs play a huge role in the game now as many units can scale them and they provide various routes to enter another person's base. I cannot think of too many other example off the top of my head, but I had a great time with the multiplayer. Even if I do not end up playing league games mainly, I know some great custom maps will be made that I will enjoy. I spent most of my time in the original playing TDs, marine special forces, golem wars, etc, so I know I will enjoy the custom games here as well.

The only real problem for me is I had to upgrade my RAM. 2gb just does not cut it. Starcraft 2 is a RAM hog.
 
I pretty much got burned out with RTS games with Command and Conquer. I played Warcraft a little bit, but by the time Starcraft came out I really had no more interest in the genre. I played around with DOW and COH, but its really not my cup of tea.
 
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