Released in 2020, StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty is a sci-fi real-time strategy(RTS) video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the sequel to the hit RTS that was released in 1998 and has garnered a massive, almost cult-like following within its community.
The game places you in the Koprulu sector, in a heated war for dominance between 3 races: Humans, Zerg, and Protoss. Each race has its own weaponry, infantry, and strategies that players can use to form tactics to dominate the battlefield. Today, we’re looking into just how the StarCraft player count came to be, and we’ll answer how many people play StarCraft 2.
@ Blizzard
How did StarCraft 2’s player count come to be?
StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty was released as a stand-alone game sequel to the hit first instalment of StarCraft. After receiving critical acclaim for StarCraft 2, Blizzard Entertainment wasn’t done and planned some expansions to keep and increase the StarCraft 2 player count. They came up with three expansions, 2 of which became stand-alone games.
StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void are the expansions later made into stand-alone games, significantly improving the StarCraft 2 player count. Here are the features that all these StarCraft games offer that make them such appealing games:
- Real-time strategy (RTS) gameplay: Command diverse armies, manage resources, and outmaneuver opponents in intense battles.
- Three distinct races: Choose from the Terrans (humans), Zerg (alien swarm), or Protoss (advanced alien race), each with unique units, abilities, and playstyles.
- Single-player campaigns: Experience epic stories across three instalments: Wings of Liberty (Terrans), Heart of the Swarm (Zerg), and Legacy of the Void (Protoss).
- Multiplayer modes: Compete against others in ranked and unranked matches, team games, or custom games.
- Cooperative gameplay: Team up with friends against AI opponents in various scenarios.
- Map editor: Create and share custom maps with the community.
- Blizzard Arcade: Play community-made games and mods within StarCraft II.
These features cut across all the expansions and even the DLCs. While they each add their own new narrative, with new commanders, plots, missions, armies, weapons, and many more, we shouldn’t have to wonder how many people play StarCraft.
Still, for the sake of this article, we will answer that question. A whopping 5.1 million online players currently play StarCraft. Since StarCraft 2 was released on PC and macOS, most of its players have been on PC, as shown by the Steam player count.
Conclusion
In conclusion, StarCraft 2 is one of the most popular real-time strategy games that helped define the RTS genre of video games, so StarCraft 2 is definitely worth a try. If you enjoyed this article and are willing to try other games, check out our article on how many people play Zelda.
