New StarCraft Game Pitches from Korean Developers to Blizzard

Blizzard is reportedly receiving a number of pitches for new StarCraft video games from Korean studios. In an article highlighted by the X / Twitter account @KoreaXboxnews, Asia Today listed four Korean companies competing to develop new games based on the StarCraft IP and secure publishing rights: NCSoft, Nexon, Netmarble, and Krafton. Some of these companies have reportedly traveled to Blizzard’s headquarters in Irvine, California, to pitch their ideas.

NCSoft, known for the Lineage and Guild Wars MMOs, has proposed a StarCraft RPG, possibly an MMORPG. Nexon, the creator of The First Descendant, has pitched a “unique” use of the StarCraft IP. Netmarble, which developed Solo Leveling: Arise and Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, is interested in creating a StarCraft mobile game. Krafton, the company behind PUBG and inZOI, aims to develop a StarCraft game leveraging its own development capabilities.

While pitches are common in the video game industry, nothing may come of these proposals. However, StarCraft fans are excited about Blizzard’s interest in expanding the beloved sci-fi universe, especially since the last game in the franchise was released some time ago. Activision Blizzard declined to comment when contacted by IGN.

It's also worth noting that Blizzard has been making another attempt at developing a StarCraft shooter. This project is being led by Dan Hay, a former Far Cry executive producer who joined Blizzard in 2022. Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier discussed this during IGN’s Podcast Unlocked while promoting his book, Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment. Schreier mentioned that the StarCraft shooter, though in development, could still be canceled, given Blizzard's history with such projects.

Blizzard has a history of trying to expand the StarCraft franchise beyond its real-time strategy roots. The infamous StarCraft Ghost, announced in 2002, was intended to be a tactical-action console game but was canceled in 2006 after numerous delays. A second attempt, codenamed Ares, described as "like Battlefield in the StarCraft universe," was canceled in 2019 to focus on Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2.

More recently, in November, Blizzard was seen hiring for an “upcoming open-world shooter game,” believed to be a StarCraft FPS. The interest in StarCraft is growing, as evidenced by Blizzard’s recent release of StarCraft: Remastered and StarCraft 2: Campaign Collection on Game Pass, and the announcement of a StarCraft crossover with the Warcraft card game Hearthstone.