StarCraft fans have had a rough decade, but a new report suggests a wide-ranging revival for the dormant sci-fi franchise is underway. Arc Raiders publisher Nexon has apparently hired a veteran StarCraft modder to lead a new entry in the series at its free-to-play shooter studio, and it seems this project is entirely separate from the long-rumored StarCraft shooter said to be in the works at Blizzard.
Development of a new game building on the StarCraft IP has begun at Nexon, according to a machine translation of a report from Korean outlet dnews. The outlet cites insider sources as it suggests Nexon is currently recruiting key developers for the project, and already has its lead in the form of Choi Jun-ho.
Jun-ho is described as the modder behind a popular StarCraft map known as "Shinpu" – which I've been unable to find much reference to on the English-language web. Despite the project lead's roots, the game itself is reportedly in development at the Nexon studio behind Sudden Attack, a free-to-play FPS series. It's unclear what genre this game would take on.
The dnews report speculates on a potential connection between this project and the long-rumored StarCraft shooter that Blizzard is apparently making, but that's seemingly not the case. "No idea if this is true," Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier says in response to the report in a ResetEra post, "but if so it is unrelated to the StarCraft shooter that's in development at Blizzard by a Blizzard team."
Schreier is, of course, the one who first reported on the StarCraft shooter's development back in 2024. This game is reportedly coming together under the leadership of Blizzard VP and GM Dan Hay, who previously served as franchise lead on the Far Cry series.
Blizzard's teasing a whole lot of news on its biggest franchises this year, but StarCraft has been notably absent from the announced festivities. But if there's not just one but two new StarCraft games in development, maybe RTS fans have reason to hope again – even if it seems likely neither of these games will be an RTS title.
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