It's been roughly nine years since Blizzard announced the map marketplace for Starcraft II and the next update will finally make good on the initial promise.
Patch 4.3 adds the ability to buy and sell maps to Starcraft Arcade, the map-creation mode where fans have been able to create and share maps among themselves. While these were previously entirely free, Blizzard is now selecting maps to offer for sale from "prominent community creators," with "a share of sales" going to said creators.
The two first maps to launch the program are "ARK Star," a turn-based RPG focusing on the Protoss by creator Pirate, and "Direct Strike," an evolution of Desert Strike HotS by creator Tya. The maps are $4.99, though Direct Strike has both free and premium variations.
The feature should be coming with version 4.3, which is itself undated so far. You can find the full blog post on the subject here.
Our Take
Ideally Blizzard shows why this service benefits consumers and map creators in a way that justifies the change. That said, it's kind of impressive they instituted it nine years after announcing it.
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