It’s been a while since Starcraft fans have seen anything new, but that might be changing soon, as sources point to a new title set for reveal at Blizzcon this year. This news originally comes from the same Windows Central report by Jez Corden, which hinted at games that are going to be on the Xbox Developers Direct.
The report claims that Starcraft will have a major presence at this year’s Blizzcon 2026. It will align with what Blomberg reporter Jason Schreier once hinted at with his book, Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment.
Jez Corden writes: “The headline for Blizzcon 2026 is most likely going to be StarCraft. It was previously reported that Starcraft is getting the third-person shooter treatment, and I confirmed these rumors true via my own sources a while back.”
The new game might be a Starcraft shooter
This news should be treated carefully within the Starcraft fandom without preemptive expectations. Because, as mentioned, Blizzard might actually be looking to release a major third-person shooter based on the intellectual property, and not a traditional real-time strategy game.
In 2024, a Blizzard job listing popped up, which was reported by various news outlets, and it kick-started a slew of rumors around the company’s intellectual properties. One of the job details hinted at an unannounced PVE shooter. It can be assumed that this was the Starcraft project in its infancy, but we will have to wait and see.
This is not the first time that the developers have attempted at a Starcraft shooter title. But it is evident that the last time something was confirmed to be in development, it was a spinoff of the franchise. We are, of course, referring to Starcraft Ghost, which was shelved in the mid-2000s.
It has been over 16 years since we have seen any completely new Starcraft entries, so in that context, this sure is going to be special. The old RTS games still stay strong as one of the most important games in the genre.
Transitioning to a new genre is not easy
It is of utmost importance that this new spinoff lives up to the reputation of the original games. At the moment, it is uncertain if Blizzard wants this to be a spinoff or the next mainline sequel to the franchise. That would be raising a lot of eyebrows, considering how they will be flipping genres completely.
Transitioning between genres for a long-standing game franchise is not something unique in the video game industry. We have seen it happen with various franchises, such as Final Fantasy, and more often than not, it ends up with varying degrees of success.
Fans will have to wait a little longer for their questions to get answered, as Blizzcon is still more than a handful of months away in September of this year.
