When Blizzard finally revealed the July 27 launch date for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, it mentioned that the digital release of the game would be available shortly following its retail launch. Today, we learned just how short the timeframe between the retail and digital versions of the game really is: about ten hours.
Blizzard has announced that the digital version of StarCraft II will be released on July 27, the same date as the retail version. You'll be able to download and play the game the day it comes out. However, if you're dead set on forgoing the brick-and-mortar, there are a few things you need to be aware of.
== TEASER ==Here's how it's going down: right now, at this very moment, you can download the full StarCraft II client. The whole thing! And you don't even have to pay for it! It's free! Of course, you can't do anything with that client, because you technically don't own it yet; the StarCraft II download still needs to be purchased and activated on Battle.net, and those functions won't become available until the July 27 launch date. Yep, you can't even buy the digital release of the game until the 27th.
Furthermore, the online copies won't have activation access right at the stroke of midnight; that functionality goes live at 10 AM Pacific Daylight Style, so if you desperately need to inject StarCraft directly into your eye socket (so you can feel it faster!), the inevitable midnight launch at a retail store might be the way to go.
It's also worth mentioning that if you aim to take the digital road to StarCraft II, you'll only have access to the regular versions of the game; the special edition of StarCraft II will come in a box only, so if you're angling for exclusive multiplayer skins and a new pet for your World of Warcraft character (who isn't?), then you need to get that game in a box.
Oh, and all of your digital StarCraft-ing is going to go down exclusively in the Blizzard store and nowhere else; Blizzard isn't selling StarCraft II through Steam, GFWL, or any other online PC game distribution service.
But if you do jump through those hoops and abide by those rules, then you'll be able to download and play StarCraft II only ten hours after it's retail launch, instead of a day or a week later. Provided, of course, that the Battle.net servers aren't totally thrashed on launch day, making it impossible to get the game verified online. Which they will be. Because this is a Blizzard game.
How are you guys planning to purchase StarCraft II? Is your Steam library large enough that you're fine with downloading a game? Or will you purchase SCII, like all of your PC games, from a retail outlet?