StarCraft II is the trilogy of RTS games in development as a sequel to the 1998 video game StarCraft. We have word that Eurogamer is reporting that Blizzard’s design chief Rob Pardo has expressed plans to allow map makers on the mod community to publish both free and “premium” maps on a StarCraft II Marketplace.
The Marketplace would be set up after the game’s launch and it would act as a forum in which people would be able to publish as well as download a number of free and premium maps. Apparently the system being proposed would also see a portion of the revenue, generated from the premium maps, going to the respective creators.
Pardo believes that this move will ultimately lead to much better and more highly-evolved content. He also hopes this will attract many of the best amateur game designers away from contributing to other platforms such as Steam.
This StarCraft II Marketplace would keep fans happy even when there are gaps between Blizzard’s official content. The Marketplace will not be added at the game’s launch as it would undesirably delay the game further.