StarCraft fans have been waiting for a long time for the series to get a new game, and they will have to wait some more.
Blizzard Entertainment has announced that its classic real-time strategy franchise, StarCraft, is finally getting a new title over a decade since the release of StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void. However, fans of the franchise will have to wait four more years before the game releases in 2030.
Blizzard revealed the new title, simply named StarCraft, during BlizzCon 2026. Aside from the long wait before its release, the developers also threw another curveball at fans: StarCraft will be an open-world shooter instead of a real-time strategy game.
Aside from revealing StarCraft will be switching to an entirely different genre and will take four years to come out, Blizzard did not reveal any other details on the new title. We did get a nice cinematic trailer with that classic Blizzard quality though.
The trailer is from the perspective of the Terran Dominion and shows a recruit training to become a Marine, eventually earning his power armor, then getting sent off to battle. He is then promptly slaughtered by Zerglings, with his broken power armor later getting salvaged to be given to the next unwitting grunt lined up for the meatgrinder. Should've brought in some Hellions.
At the very least, the trailer essentially confirms the Terran Dominion as one of the factions players can be a part of in the StarCraft open-world shooter. The four-year wait until its release, barring any delays, should give Blizzard plenty of time to give fans of the franchise more information.
Why is the new StarCraft game an open-world shooter?
The new StarCraft game being a shooter instead of another real-time strategy game shouldn't come as too big of a surprise to longtime fans of the franchise. Blizzard has already tried–and failed–to launch a StarCraft shooter twice, so maybe third time's the charm.
Blizzard's first attempt at a StarCraft shooter was StarCraft Ghost, first announced in 2002. That game would've put players in the shoes of an elite Ghost operative serving the Terran Dominion, but a series of delays led to launch plans being cancelled in 2006. The second attempt then came over a decade later, but it was canceled in 2019 so Blizzard could instead focus on the development of Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2. It remains to be seen if Blizzard's third try at making a StarCraft shooter after another decade of waiting for fans will finally bear fruit.
