World of Warcraft creator Blizzard temporarily closed over 350,000
StarCraft and
Diablo II accounts on its Battle.net service for using "third-party hacks."
The company restricted the
Diablo II CD keys associated with the affected accounts from accessing Battle.net, its online gaming service, for 30 days. It vows to close the accounts and permanently ban the CD keys of repeat offenders.
This move to suspend so many
StarCraft and
Diablo II accounts after the games' releases ten and eight years ago, respectively, is likely in anticipation of Blizzard's sequels for both PC titles,
StarCraft II and
Diablo III, currently in development.
"As part of our continued effort to ensure a fair and fun online experience for all Battle.net players, we have expanded our efforts to remove cheaters from
StarCraft and
Diablo II," says Blizzard
in a statement posted by consumer weblog Kotaku.
The company also reportedly blocked 7,700
Warcraft III accounts from Battle.net, six years after the real-time strategy game's release.
The statement continues, "We reserve the right to close the accounts and ban the CD keys of players who are caught cheating on Battle.net. Cheating ruins the game experience for legitimate players, and we will not tolerate it."
