Jez Corden dropped a teaser for a potential Blizzard title that just might come to Game Pass in the future, if nor more.
Earlier this week, Corden had an informal AMA on Twitter. When asked about Starcraft, Corden went on record to say: “Msft won’t need to revive starcraft”
Now, this can be taken to mean that Starcraft won’t be revived because it’s unnecessary. So, in answering another inquiry, Corden said yes, when he was asked “Starcraft 3.” When he was asked if he knew more, he then answered, yes.
StarCraft, of course, is one of the biggest and most successful video game franchises of all time. It’s accomplished this in spite of the fact that there are only two games in the franchise thus far.
The first StarCraft, released in 1998, was an evolution of Blizzard’s real time strategy game design, switching settings from a fantasy medieval world, to an alien filled science fiction universe. Among its great innovations were the creation of three distinct species, three separate campaigns designed for each species, a dynamic scaling difficulty curve, and online multiplayer via their pioneering Battle.net service. StarCraft also received ports to MacOS and the Nintendo 64, as well as the expansion StarCraft: Brood War.
StarCraft II, released in 2010, was not as much of a mainstream success as the original, but it has an enduring legacy of its own. For starters, its story was split across its original release, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, as well as two expansions, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, and StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void.
Many fans felt that StarCraft II failed to live up to the original, but it was what happened to the game in the years after release that made it noteworthy.
Following the rise of esports for StarCraft: Brood War and StarCraft II, Blizzard launched the StarCraft II World Championship Series as its official tournament circuit. StarCraft esports became a popular sport worldwide, but especially in South Korea.
If Blizzard is already working on a StarCraft III, they would have to come up with a new storyline to bring together the stories of Jim Raynor, Sarah Kerrigan, Nova, and more.
More importantly, they would have to ponder an issue that’s faced many classic game revivals; attempting to satisfy both veteran game players and attracting newer players.
Real time strategy may have seen a revival in popularity in recent years, as well as turn based strategy games, but as a distinct niche with a hard limit to how huge the player base can be.
There may be a lot of exciting possibilities with a StarCraft III being made for Microsoft, but it must be asked, is Blizzard even ready to make StarCraft III now? We may not have to wait that long to find out.
