Blizzard is reportedly receiving several pitches from Korean studios to develop new games within the StarCraft universe. According to an article highlighted by the X / Twitter account @KoreaXboxnews, Asia Today mentioned that four Korean companies—NCSoft, Nexon, Netmarble, and Krafton—are competing to secure the rights to develop and publish new StarCraft games. Some representatives from these companies have even visited Blizzard's headquarters in Irvine, California, to present their pitches.
NCSoft, known for the Lineage and Guild Wars MMOs, is said to be proposing a StarCraft RPG, possibly an MMORPG. Nexon, the developer behind The First Descendant, has pitched a "unique" use of the StarCraft IP. Netmarble, which created Solo Leveling: Arise and Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, is interested in developing a StarCraft mobile game. Meanwhile, Krafton, the powerhouse behind PUBG and inZOI, aims to create a StarCraft game leveraging its own development strengths.
While pitches for new games are common in the industry, and these proposals may not necessarily lead to new releases, the news is likely to excite StarCraft fans eager for new content in the beloved sci-fi franchise. Activision Blizzard has not provided any comments on these developments when approached by IGN.
It's also noteworthy that Blizzard has been making efforts to expand the StarCraft universe. In September, it was revealed that Blizzard is working on a third StarCraft shooter, led by former Far Cry executive producer Dan Hay, who joined Blizzard in 2022. This information surfaced during a discussion on IGN’s Podcast Unlocked with Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, who mentioned Hay's project in his book, Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment.
Schreier noted that while the book primarily focused on past events at Blizzard, the ongoing development of a StarCraft shooter was significant enough to mention, underscoring Blizzard's persistent interest in the franchise. This is despite the company's previous unsuccessful attempts to release StarCraft shooters, including the canceled StarCraft Ghost in 2006 and the Ares project, which was scrapped in 2019 to prioritize Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2.
More recently, in November, Blizzard was seen hiring for an "upcoming open-world shooter game," which many believe could be related to StarCraft. Additionally, Blizzard has been actively engaging with the StarCraft community by releasing StarCraft: Remastered and StarCraft 2: Campaign Collection on Game Pass and announcing a crossover with the Warcraft card game Hearthstone.
These developments suggest that Blizzard is slowly but surely ramping up efforts to bring new life to the StarCraft universe.
