It’s been over 15 years since Blizzard’s beloved real-time technique recreation, StarCraft 2, got here out. Now, a brand new recreation in the sequence has been introduced — however it’s nonetheless years away.
Revealed at BlizzCon 2026, the merely named StarCraft is the subsequent title in the sci-fi franchise, and it’s going to look markedly totally different from its predecessors.
The truth is, it’s a totally totally different style. StarCraft is an open-world shooter, and it’s due out in 2030. Whereas this distant launch window makes it laborious to get too enthusiastic about StarCraft simply but, Blizzard has a historical past of saying video games far earlier than they’re prepared for the general public to play. The truth is, it’s one thing the corporate behind Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch is infamous for doing, traditionally touting the mantra: “It’ll be prepared when it’s prepared.”
The announcement of a brand new StarCraft recreation was anticipated at BlizzCon, after the official StarCraft web site turned rife with visible ‘glitches,’ and issued a ‘warning’ telling customers their system has been “compromised.” Followers took this to imply {that a} large replace for the franchise was on the horizon, they usually have been proper.
Certainly, rumors of a StarCraft shooter had been circling for years. In 2024, Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier informed IGN’s Podcast Unlocked about Blizzard’s third try at growing a StarCraft shooter with former Far Cry government producer Dan Hay, who joined Blizzard in 2022, main the cost. Then, later in 2024, a job posting was listed for an ‘upcoming open-world shooter’ that followers have been sure was tied to this StarCraft recreation.
Blizzard has had a troublesome time growing StarCraft shooters over time. StarCraft Ghost, introduced in 2002, was going to be a tactical-action console recreation in which you performed as a lethal Ghost operative in the make use of of the Dominion, however it was canceled in 2006 after a sequence of delays.
A second try to make a StarCraft shooter, codenamed Ares, was canceled in 2019 so Blizzard may deal with Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2. Ares was reportedly “like Battlefield in the StarCraft universe,” however, like Ghost, fell by the wayside.
Now, it’s a case of third time fortunate for Blizzard with this new StarCraft shooter in growth. Try every part introduced at BlizzCon 2026 for all of the information from throughout Blizzard.
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Wesley Yin-Poole
Director, Information
Wesley is Director, Information at IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You’ll be able to attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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