After asking someone who found a disc labeled “StarCraft Gold Master Source Code” in a box of eBay winnings to return it, Blizzard has rewarded the finder with a bunch of merchandise, a paid trip to BlizzCon and an invite out for drinks.
What’s interesting and still pretty mysterious here is why, exactly, a gold master of the StarCraft source code was among the lot that a Reddit poster who goes by Khemist49 bought on eBay. When they posted a picture of the disc to Reddit last month, they suggested that the lot included “a lot of Blizzard stuff” and looked like it might have come from a storage unit.
A few days later the user posted that they’d been contacted by Blizzard and asked to return the disc, which was believed to be stolen. They did so and, a week ago, received some merchandise in the mail along with $250 in Overwatch credit and an invitation to be flown out for an all-expenses-paid trip to BlizzCon — including dinner and drinks with the staff.
Kotaku confirmed the story with a Blizzard representative, who said the company wanted to show appreciation “not just from Blizzard, but on behalf of the large and active community of players who still enjoy StarCraft today.”
Incidentally, Blizzard recently patched the nearly 20-year-old game and made it free to download in advance of releasing a remastered version this summer.