Quote: "He illustrates how StarCraft can actually be "the model for in-game advertising and tournament play", spooking at least one World of Warcraft player, who asks on the forums if WoW could be next. Fortunately, Karune chimes in the same thread assuring StarCraft fans (and by extension, WoW players) that Blizzard has "no plans to have in-game advertising in StarCraft II." He explains that "Bobby (Kotick) was actually referring to Battle.net, which has always included ads."

... This suggests to me the possibility of an ad-based StarCraft MMO. If "StarCraft" is the "model" to which Mr. Kotick points, but, as Karune confirms, there is no plan to insert advertising into "StarCraft 2," then perhaps another "StarCraft" title, with a design more similar to the original Battle.net architecture (see below), would work.

Yes, I know that Karune also explained that he was referring specifically to Battle.net, but in the same sense as I've indicated above, he may have been subtly trying to redirect attention away from speculation on the new unannounced MMO property (which might be somehow similarly inspired by the original design for Battle.net - again, see below).

Battle.net was free, thanks to ads, and was an excellent medium to connect players for multiplayer games; if Blizzard creates a StarCraft MMO that is largely PvP or tournament-driven, sponsorship opportunities would be massive (pun intended), especially if they kept the game free. I don't doubt such a game would double WoW's subscriber base, topping 20 million players, if it was free - and the ad dollars would absolutely *flood* Blizzard's offices!

Two other factors worth consideration: (1) "StarCraft 2" might be designed simultaneously with a follow-up MMO in mind, in order to establish the story prior to its release (a la "WC3:TFT" / "WoW"); (2) corporate advertising would be much more at home in the dystopia of the "StarCraft" setting, and would make no sense and destroy any feeling of immersion in a fantasy property, such as "Diablo Online" or "WoW 2."

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