Starcraft II to get global play, multiplayer replays, unranked matchmaking, more

Following the recent news that Diablo III would be getting a (sort of) “Global Play” feature, Blizzard has confirmed that, yes, so is Starcraft II. The much-requested feature will apparently be packed in an incoming update expected to drop alongside the launch of the Heart of the Swarm campaign.

The complete feature list includes:

Multiplayer resume from replay;
Global Play;
Multilanguage support;
Clan/group system;
Unranked matchmaking;
Multiplayer replay viewing.

The Diablo III Global Play feature allows players to move between server regions, but with several major restrictions – most significantly that characters and gear cannot be moved with the player. It’s not clear yet whether Starcraft II’s Global Play feature will impose restrictions of any kind, with Blizzard’s Chris Sigaty saying only that “We’ll have information as we get closer to Heart of the Swarm’s release.”

Heart of the Swarm does not have a release date yet, although there’s a beta happening ahead of whenever that’s going to be.

“We will be releasing news in the next few weeks about how your participation in the upcoming Arcade (1.5) beta can win you chances to get into the upcoming Heart of the Swarm multiplayer beta test,” said Sigaty.