After several years spent supportingOverwatchandWorld of Warcraft, making remasters, joining Xbox, and launchingDiablo 4, it seems like Blizzard may have a surprising new game on the way. This news comes from an IGN interview with Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier about his upcoming book on Blizzard, Play Nice, and concerns ex-Far Crylead Dan Hay working on a new shooter set in theStarCraftuniverse. Hay joined Blizzard in 2022, and while Bloomberg previously reported him as overseeing a survival project codenamedOdyssey, its cancelation in January 2024 has allegedly transferred him to thisStarCraftproject instead.
It’s been a while since Blizzard has done anything high-profile with theStarCraftIP sinceStarCraft 2lost its competitive scene to its predecessor, but now feels like the time to try again. The last newStarCraftreleases wereStarCraft: RemasteredandStarCraft 2: Campaign Collectionin 2017, and while both arearriving on PC Game Passin November 2024, the series hasn’t seen much action otherwise. A newStarCraftgame would give one of Blizzard’s all-time great franchises a much-needed shot in the arm, but producing a shooter spin-off instead of a trueStarCraft 3could be a fatal mistake.
A StarCraft Shooter Sounds Like The Wrong Move
The main issue here can be boiled down to a single statement, which is thatStarCraftfans wantStarCraft 3. Despite the fan base having aged significantly and the real-time strategy genre having mostly fallen out of favor alongsideStarCraft 2, there is still an enduring passion for the franchise and its gameplay.StarCraft 1and itsBrood Warexpansion would not have joinedSuper Smash Bros. MeleeandHalo 3as their communities’ preferred competitive titles without endearing themselves to their players, and theStarCraftcommunity would no doubt receive at leastStarCraft 3’s announcement with open arms.
Blizzard Can’t Afford To Split Its FPS Efforts
However, that’s not what fans are looking at. If the rumoredStarCraftproject is able to get off the ground, it will be a shooter, and most likely a competitive first-person hero-centric one, based on Blizzard’s expertise. Thatexpertise comes fromOverwatchandOverwatch 2, one continuous game that has been embroiled in constant controversies since the name switch.Marvel Rivalsis already lined up to compete withOverwatch, and early impressions claim it has a real shot at doing so. Throwing another Blizzard game into this increasingly crowded market could fail to make a splash, and that’s not the only obstacle in aStarCraftshooter’s way.
StarCraft Shooters Are Already Saddled With Red Flags
Not only is the shooter market overflowing, while the RTS well has nearly run dry, Blizzard’s ownStarCraftsupply has been suspect for years. This new project is actually the third rumoredStarCraftshooter, and the prior two met the same fate.Many rumored Blizzard projects have been canceledacross its history, like the 2019 shooterAresthat was said to be in theStarCraftuniverse, butStarCraft: Ghostactually got a 2002 announcement before slowly transitioning from delayed in 2006 to officially canceled in 2014.Ghost’s protagonist Nova made it toStarCraft 2andHeroes of the Storm, but the loss of a promisingStarCraftFPS still lingers in older fans’ minds.
The Risk Of A StarCraft FPS Outweighs The Reward
If this newStarCraftgame can fight past Blizzard’s cancelation track record, ongoing talent bleed, and hero shooter redundancies, followed up by penetrating a potentiallyfull hero shooter market whereConcordjust failed, then maybe it has a chance. That’s a monumental long shot, and if the project is still in its infancy, pivoting to a better genre forStarCraftis the better choice. As hard of a sell as an RTS is these days, returningStarCraftto its home genre is still a safer bet than turning it into a shooter.
