Blizzard has told Gamesindustry.biz that it is currently considering various payment options for Battle.net.

"We’re trying to figure out how marketplace is going to work exactly and how consumers are going to be able to interact with that marketplace," said CEO Paul Sams.

"It’s certainly possible that there could be a charging mechanism at some point - we’re looking at all possibilities for each of the areas of Battle.net." The firm said it does not believe it will follow the success of Steam, but instead will likely offer small scale Blizzard products and pay-for content. "I think at the moment our focus is squarely on Blizzard products and we need to make sure that what we’re doing is right for our games," Sams said . "It’s also a big differentiator for us. There’s really not a lot of companies out there that can or are willing to do this because it’s a huge expense.

"I never want to say never on questions like this but we’ve got to get our stuff straight and we certainly aren’t going to think about third-parties if we don’t have our act together. And there’s a lot of work to do between now and then." Sams added that Battle.net is a contributing factor to the delay of StarCraft II, which will make use of the service on launch.