Someone found the original 'StarCraft' source code so Blizzard showered them in gifts
About a month ago, a Reddit user who goes by Khemist49 found himself in possession of a fabled golden disc labeled StarCraft Gold Master Source Code. Blizzard Entertainment caught wind of the news and Khemist ended up handing the disc over to its rightful owners, which, unbeknownst to him, meant he'd be getting a whole bunch of goodies from Blizzard.
As seen by Kotaku, Khemist purchased a box of old Blizzard-related stuff on eBay in April, only to find an intriguing disc in the mix. The disc in question allegedly contains the source code to the original StarCraft game that GameSpot reported as being lost back in 2000 -- it forced Blizzard to start from scratch on its massively popular real-time strategy game.
After posting about his loot on Reddit, Khemist received a slew of suggestions from commenters. Some told him he should dump the source code somewhere for people to download and tinker with, some said he should give it to Blizzard, and some thought he should preserve it somewhere online.
Khemist expressed fear that if he did anything other than give it to Blizzard, he might hear from their lawyers.
Before Khemist could make a decision, Blizzard reached out to him saying he needed to return the disc to Blizzard because it contained the company's intellectual property and trade secrets. He asked for some legal advice on Reddit and eventually decided to send the disc back to Blizzard.
After weeks of silence, Khemist updated the world on his saga. Blizzard was so grateful to get the disc back that they sent Khemist a copy of Overwatch, $250 in Blizzard store credit, and a ton of Overwatch and Diablo swag. Blizzard even offered to pay for Khemist to come to BlizzCon this year.
I returned the disc to Blizzard two weeks ago. A few days later I received a copy of Overwatch and $250 in Blizzard store credit. A week later I got another call from a Blizzard employee. He wanted to thank me for returning their disc (which was in fact stolen). He then asked me if I have ever heard of BlizzCon. I said well, yeah of course but it's impossible for me to go, I live in the east coast, and the badges are always sold out before you can refresh the page lol. He said well, the reason we are calling you is to invite you to BlizzCon, all expenses paid, and we would love to take you out for drinks. I didn't know what to say, I was shocked, I expected nothing more than the free game and the store credit... After I thanked him 1,000 times he said oh by the way you should also be receiving something in the mail! This is what I got two days later
He attached this picture of the goodies that Blizzard sent along:
Not a bad deal. If anyone else out there has a golden source code disc for a Blizzard game, be sure to hand it over and you might get rewarded, too.
Topics Blizzard Entertainment Esports Gaming
