Blizzard caused a bit of a firestorm at BlizzCon 2008 when they suggested that Battle.net will have fees. Now, they've reassured gamers that they'll be able to play online through the service for free.

"When a player buys the StarCraft II box at retail, they will have the ability to play on the new Battle.net for free," a Blizzard community manager said on Battle.net forums. Odd that they'd mention retail specifically, as they sell another one of their games - World of WarCraft - digitally. Guess they're planning to release SC2 solely through retail at the beginning?

"The ability to play on the new Battle.net for free" seems to rule out any sort of monthly subscription for the service. However, it's not outright dismissing what they said at last year's BlizzCon. It's possible that there could still be fees but that they're solely for optional services or features.