After nearly 15 years since the series saw its last fresh installment, a revival of StarCraft seems to be in the works, with reports indicating that four companies are competing for the opportunity to develop new titles in the beloved franchise.
A machine-translated report from AsiaToday (with additional details shared by the South Korean news outlet @KoreaXboxNews on Twitter) suggests that Nexon, Krafton, Netmarble, and NCSoft are all in a race to acquire global publishing rights for StarCraft. Some representatives from these companies have reportedly visited Blizzard to present their ideas in person.
Moreover, the claims indicate that each contender is pitching different concepts for the franchise. Netmarble is allegedly looking into adapting StarCraft for mobile platforms, while Krafton has expressed interest in creating an entirely new game. Nexon has proposed a distinct approach to utilizing the IP, and it seems that NCSoft might aim to develop a role-playing game inspired by the series.
While this information is intriguing, it’s essential to approach it skeptically until official confirmation is provided. Last year, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported that during the writing of his book on Blizzard (entitled Play Nice), there was a StarCraft shooter in development at Blizzard. Interest peaked when a job listing surfaced, indicating that Blizzard was involved in developing an unannounced “upcoming open-world shooter game.”
However, the StarCraft community has faced disappointments in the past. A notable example is StarCraft: Ghost, which was announced back in 2002 but eventually met its demise after being indefinitely delayed in 2006 and ultimately canceled. Fans can only hope that any activity happening behind the scenes at Blizzard leads to a new release soon—especially considering that the latest iteration, a remaster of the original game, will celebrate its eighth anniversary this August.
A veteran of StarCraft 2 suggests that a sequel could either adopt an open-world format or explore entirely different approaches.