Yes, we know and you know that it’s confirmed, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will be retailing for S$109 in Singapore. It’s old news, but the burning question that’s been going back and forth is Why and Who. We asked both IAHGames and Blizzard about this, and here is what they had to say about pricing, B.net Asia, and who’s running the show.
Roland Ong, CEO, IAHGames
GAX: Why is StarCraft II so expensive?
Ong: The deal that IAHGames have signed with Blizzard Entertainment for StarCraft II is a “License and Distribution Agreement” which makes IAHGames the official licensee and distributor for StarCraft II in SEA. Blizzard will be running their own battle.net servers for the game and Blizzard are responsible for setting the price of the game worldwide, which includes the SEA region.
Why is it so expensive? When you buy StarCraft II you get free, unlimited access to Battle.Net. Remember that things in Singapore are always more expensive than in the US. In the US, it’s very cheap for Blizzard to run Battle.net as 1MB of bandwidth costs less than US$10, but here, 1MB of bandwidth can cost between S$80-100, so the price is naturally higher to reflect that. It’s a little bit more expensive, but you get very low latency and Blizzard can assure the quality of play as a result.
GAX: What does the licensee agreement mean?
Ong: Blizzard will be setting up and operating their own local battle.net servers here in Singapore. All the technical backend, hardware and software maintenance will be controlled and operated by Blizzard. All the customer service related things, like the call center, local tournaments, sales events and exhibitions will be run by IAHGames. The call center team will be trained by Blizzard.
GAX: Will there be any other pricing options for StarCraft II?
Ong: There will be an alternative pricing plan available for StarCraft II, but that won’t be available until after launch. For now we can’t say anything as we’re still working out the details with Blizzard.
That alternative pricing plan sounds interesting, but IAHGames are keeping quiet on the details for now.
So we know Blizzard is the reason the game will cost S$109. As for why, it appears to be due to the factored in cost of setting up and operating the local battle.net servers, which includes the high cost of bandwidth here.
When we asked Blizzard, they declined to answer any questions directly regarding the relationship between the cost of the game and the cost for setting up the local battle.net servers, but they do seem insistent that local gamers will be getting a much improved gaming experience when playing on the local servers. Increased gaming experience = Increased price.
Kevin Yu, Global Manager of Community Development, Blizzard
GAX: Why are Blizzard setting up servers in Singapore?
Yu: When gamers play games competitively, especially with games like DOTA, players have problems with latency. It causes huge effects on the actual game play experience. So part of having an office here is having the customer support and having the servers here is so that we can give the best possible player experience. Â It’s so we can make sure the pings are as low as possible, making sure you guys have the best and fastest experience.”
GAX: Why not give gamers the option to connect to both the U.S. and SEA servers, depending on who they want to play with?
Yu: Well I look at it like World of Warcraft, in the past each of the realms were very separated, there weren’t many ways for you to connect to other realms, but then as time went on we looked at the popularity of each of the realms and we started adding ways for people to connect to each other, through shared Battlegroups and such. I can’t really say what we’re going to be doing with StarCraft in the future but looking historically, we’ve found ways to bridge players together. It’s something we’re going to see how it rolls out at first. Right now, we believe there’s enough players on the SEA servers to form a thriving environment. You’ll also be playing with Australia and New Zealand.
GAX: Some people think the level of play will be higher for the U.S. servers.
Yu: Most players dont play competitively to that level, where they need to compete with the entire world. Â Most people just want to play with their friends, part of the reason we added Facebook to beta, Â was so that you can see who out of your facebook friends is playing StarCraft II. We believe the fun in StarCraft II is really playing with your friends, people who you see every day, have the same interests, or skill levels, or even just people you might meet online, these are the people you’ll really enjoy playing with so we really want to create as many opportunities to bring these people together.
GAX: Is there anything stopping people from importing a US version of the game?
Yu: We wouldn’t stop you, but it does make a lot of  sense to get the local version, the experience online will be much better. you’ll have better ping, better customer service.
So there you have it. Is the “much better” gaming experience worth the extra cash? That’s up to you to decide, but at least you know why the game is so expensive here: You pay more to play on the higher operating cost Singaporean servers.
As for the upcoming Zerg and Protoss campaigns, so far Blizzard haven’t announced their price plans yet, but it’ll be very interesting to see if the “local server tax” gets added to those too.
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You’re a extremely smart particular person!
Great post, just a request, would you be able to explain the second paragraph in more depth please? Cheers
Hi dude! I have read many blogs about call center Philippines and i found out that your website is unique to others. Good work!
The question is…. what if I only intent to play the single player campaign and have no intrest in multiplayer? Paying $109 for this is just unfair.
I have heard from reliable sources that there will NOT be a local SG server. SEA players will still be connecting to the US bnet or some other international bnet server overseas. There is no confirmation whether there will or will not be a SEA server set up at a later date.
There are already unboxing videos out there on youtube.
Compare this (German version via amazon): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-xaQIyXJ54&feature=related
To this (SEA version from Malaysia, IAH Games): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nACNjOBNj-M
Granted, it’s exactly the same content wise, but notice the difference in the packaging quality.
From the videos, it’s pretty obvious that the SEA version is manufactured and packaged somewhere in SEA (most likely Singapore). From past game releases, the low cost of such a packaging process allows for games released in SEA to be lower in cost compared to the versions from other regions.
So can anyone tell me, why are we paying $10-15 USD more for a lower quality product, which according to official statements, is to offset the high operational cost of a NON-EXISTANT SEA bnet server located in Singapore? I hope either Blizzard or IAH Games can answer this truthfully and in a convincing manner. If we are to be ripped off, at least let us know why.
@Cheesepie. It is already a fact that SEA B.net servers are located in Singapore; operated and managed by IAH and Blizzard. That’s a crazy conspiracy theory you’ve got hatching there mate ;) Maybe we can contact this reliable source of yours for a story?
Hi all,
I would like to purchase the game for my hubby and just one question.
Where I can buy it off the rack before 2nd of August? Thanks!
i have only one thing to say about their trite excuses..
BALLS
Gogogogo Blizzard. I can hardly wait until Starcraft 2 comes out. Very entertaining post.
I used to play in SC competitions & played among the best in my town. Even played battle.net to improve my skills & strat on a 56k modem. And it did but i could also play LAN with people who i didn’t know who wanted to challedge me at the time.
I believe a local server can improve the gameplay experince a LITTLE. However some of the best SC players are in Asia so don’t look download on them.
But main point of all this is the value for money. Most of us feel the price is just unreasonable, it’s the pricing industry that pushes people to the “darkside”.
For now the only good news is i’ll wait for Diablo 3 and happy knowing that D3 has a local Bnet. Hope you don’t charge us for that since by then ur Bnet is already Established.
For now i’ll stick with my Fast pace Dedicated Server Bad Company 2, thank you very much. Come to think of it Why didn’t they at least think of dedicated servers for multiply games like DICE did.
Cya folks
So does this mean we will have to pay $327 for the whole trilogy? That’s madness! Even if i get a bursary thats not even enough =(
i have a feeling people who buys the original will buy the US one… wanna play with locals?
Garena lorx…..
that one best… Just torrent a cracked game… settled… low local ping SC2… 109 dollars cheaper some more…
They disabled the LAN option.. how to play in Garena?
I believe the expansions will need the original Wings of Liberty to be played, which means it will probably cost less (like around $40-$55) which is what The Frozen Throne retailed for in its day.
Local SEA StarCraft II will fail as the following reason : Low Population
1. Not many local will buy PC game that is over $80
2. Not many local LAN shop will and got the budget to install this game to all their system at 1st (if 40 PC = $109 X 40 = $4360) with 3 expansion is ($4360 X 3 = $13,080)
3. Can only play with SEA (+ AUS/NZ) player? Even L4D etc can play with player from HK,China,TW,Jap,South Korea which mean that the SEA player is very few and people will start to find other game soon.
4. A ping to AUS Perth is about 300ms which is the same ping you will receive connecting to USA
5. Not for forget that there are 2 other Expansion for the game which mean less and less people will buy as i believe the price will be like $109 X 3 = $327
6. IAH is kind of a fail company dunno where they got they $ to kept going they fail at – Hellgate : London (did’t even let me use my game time code thing that unlock other mode) + Granado espada (buy box + p2p then suddenly free2play for bots) not to forget how bad the customer service that i have exp with them on 2 different games….
Break down of the Population for StarCraft II SEA Gamer:
Burma(Myanmar), Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, East Timor, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Singapore. + AUS/NZ
Which of these country do you think will have gamer that have/willing 1. the money to buy the game? 2. which of these country have good net speed? 3. which of these country have alot of StarCraft II Gamer?
If any SEA player really wanted to enjoy this game they will have to buy the USA version
*Not to forget that StarCraft II will most likely last more than 8-10 years and by that time We (SG) already have Fiber Optic, -> 30 Jun 2012 – 95% Sources http://www.nucleusconnect.com/updates.php and by 2013-2014 we all can have Fiber Optic which allow us to have faster net/ low ping to USA etc country.
Now i wonder how much would Diablo III cost.
He mentioned something bout the bandwidth costs, if it goes lower in the future, would there be a rebate? lol!
Blah blah blah lame excuses.
The high numbers of sales from such a high profile game will offset the cost of the ‘higher prices’ for bandwidth. And you can always release a ‘casual version’ without Bnet just like they do in Mexico/Russia/etc to help alleviate that as well.
The whole region lock thing, to me, seems like it’s because of the SEA scandal. Why would anyone buy SC2 from IAH if it costs more than the US version and they can play at the same servers? Hell, even the US versions have the extra $10 console tax except… this is PC not console? Oh wait, Blizzard’s owned by Activision, and Activision’s last big title was Modern Warfare 2, which had the same ‘milk the cow dry’ problem.
I simply refuse to buy this game unless they reimburse purchasers of the SEA editions with cheaper prices for the expansions. Or scrap the bullcrap pricing immediately.
Let’s see if Blizzard realizes they screwed up bigtime when regional copies of the game sell far below projected figures.
Thanks blizzard, you just made a wrong move.. From the almost perfect victory combination for the SC2 product you almost, just almost managed to completely destroy it for the fans here.
Blizzard is so successful partly due to its loyal & genuine fans.
However, Blizzard chose to rewards its fans by increasing the price of its products.
lol nice one i agreed
Quote: “You pay more to play on the higher operating cost Singaporean servers.”
Understood. Thanks for write up.
I remember back in the old days when i was playing starcraft 1 with a 56kbps modem on the USA battle net.
It was playable. Lag was minimal.
So, bottom line, i dont think we need blizz to set up servers here to so call-ed give us a better playing experience and in the process also pass on the cost of that to Singapore players if playing on USA battle net so long ago was indeed fine.
Not to mention battle net 2.0 is actually lousier than the old battle net? No chatrooms?
Giant step backwards. I actually have to have someone in my friend list in order to play with him? 2 Giant step backwards.
So, gameplay aside, we are actually paying more money for a product with a lousier battle net.
Granted i would still buy to see the conclusion of the story. But, i see no reason to buy the local version.
i alrdy prepare 5 or 6 question, so where should i ask those question that Blizz/IAH can answer it? maybe at gameaxis forum?
“In the US, it’s very cheap for Blizzard to run Battle.net as 1MB of bandwidth costs less than US$10, but here, 1MB of bandwidth can cost between S$80-100″
BLAME STARHUB/SINGTEL!
Utter rubbish! If it’s really about improved gaming experience/performance, than what SC2 needs is plain LAN multiplayer.
I certainly beleive that many other people that read this article above will agree. Very useful information, keep up the great work! Thanks
there a ton of question that I’ll need to ask, so I wonder when or will Blizzard/IAHgames setup a Q & A forum for us to ask before he release?
sry typo: before it release?
Simple, import or buy from overseas. Or better yet. Don’t buy on release.
Thumbs up!
[...] Yes, it’s confirmed, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will be retailing for S$109 in Singapore. We asked IAHGames and Blizzard why? Here’s what they had to say. Check out the original source [...]
isn’t it the SEA B.NET?
Yep. US B.Net and SEA B.Net will be different. Buying US set means you will log in to US B.Net. Buying local set means you log in to SEA B.Net.
@AlKayeL
That’s the thing, if you buy the US set, you cannot connect to the Asian B.NET
why would you want to connect to the local bnet?? most of the SEA players dont speak proper english.. If you played other Blizz games you’d understand. Go to an asian server and all the words that come out are “… … …” which basically are in a different language. Simply retarded. And if anyone played games with thais or pinoys, no offense but youre voice gets me on my nerves.
wtf respect thai pls!!!
yes i agree… i cant understands those pinoys and thais language~~
So I’m getting the US version and connect to the local servers if my friends are playing locally, else I would just play on the US servers.
Looks like the cost of a local Battle.net infra is being passed on.
thanks for the replies!
Hopefully more will be revealed closer to the launch :)