Blizzard Community Manager Kevin 'Karune' Y has finally officially addressed this issue which has concerned many fans since rumours and hints of the monetization of battle.net 2.0 began to surface. While some aspects of the new system may be require a fee, simply playing the game online will be free. Karune had this to say: "When a player buys the StarCraft II box at retail, they will have the ability to play on the new Battle.net for free."