Blizzard: No Intention To Stop 'World of StarCraft' Mod Development

Blizzard Entertainment has clarified that it never intended to hinder the development of a 'World of StarCraft" MMO mod for StarCraft II developed by Ryan Winzen. "It was never our intention to stop development on the mod or discourage the community from expressing their creativity through the StarCraft II editor," Blizzard said in a statement. " As always, we actively encourage development of custom maps and mods for StarCraft II, as we’ve done with our strategy games in the past." Blizzard went on the say that it's looking forward to seeing development of the mod continue, and that it has invited Winzen to the company's campus to meet the game's development team. The official response comes one day after the company had video of the mod removed from YouTube, a move the company says was part of its routine procedure while reaching out to "discuss with the developer what the mod entailed." In the meantime, a representative from League of Legends developer Riot Games has reportedly reached out to Winzen to speak "about potentially working for Riotgames [sic]." A poster by the handle "coriannemama" posted the request for contact on a PixelatedGames comment thread, adding that the poster would "love to hire" the modder. Valve hired that mod's designer -- who goes by the handle "IceFrog" -- in 2009 and is attempting to trademark the acronym "Dota" for his next project, a move Blizzard's Rob Pardo said he finds confusing.