The Ledger · Entry 007 · Games
StarCraft II at Grandmaster level
Ceded to machinesSince 2019Criterion performanceLast reviewed 2026-08-17
Event
AlphaStar is rated Grandmaster on the European Battle.net ladder, above 99.8 percent of ranked players, playing all three races under camera and action-rate limits.
The defined task is ranked ladder play under conditions agreed with professionals: a camera-like view of the map and a cap on actions per minute. AlphaStar was not the best player in the world; the top of the ladder stayed human, and an earlier exhibition win over two professionals in January 2019 was criticised for interface advantages. What was ceded is Grandmaster-level real-time strategy under partial information; the very top of the ranked population is what remains argued.