'StarCraft: Remastered' gets off to bullish start here

By Lee Min-hyung

“StarCraft: Remastered” is off to a robust start here by successfully blending the feeling of the original with sophisticated new graphics.

Blizzard Korea held a promotional event in the nation’s southeastern port city of Busan, Sunday. The company has since allowed users here to enjoy the ultra-high-definition (UHD) version of the real-time strategy game at select PC rooms ahead of its official debut on Aug. 15.

Data showed “StarCraft: Remastered” is drawing explosive initial attention in the Korean market, with its online game market share here reaching sixth place Monday, up two places from the previous day, according to game market tracker Gametrics.

The ranking is expected to rise further in the weeks to come, as the data is based only on the playing time from PC rooms. Blizzard Korea pre-launched the game at nationwide PC cafes here before other countries, as part of its efforts to express gratitude to Korean fans. This is because the game has achieved an unrivaled success in Korea ever since the original title’s 1998 debut.

Some critics raised pessimism over the potential success of the remastered version, as the original and its sequel, “StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty,” have in recent years lost ground to other emerging games — such as “League of Legends” and “Overwatch.”

Chances are slim that the remastered title can bring a mega-hit comparable to the original, as a new order has prevailed in the gaming industry for the past two decades with the rise of mobile games.

But StarCraft’s popularity remained robust, with its limited presale deluxe packages rapidly going out of stock. The first 3,000 limited packages sold out in less than an hour on June 30, with an additional 20,000 items also going out of stock a few hours after Blizzard began its sales on July 11.

“The wide popularity is attributable to the fact that StarCraft: Remastered retains the same in-game playing mode of the original,” a Blizzard Korea spokesman said. “StarCraft: Remastered focused on bringing back fans’ memories of the original in a more sophisticated way.”