Blizzard Brings StarCraft Back As a New Story-Driven Open-World Shooter

At BlizzCon 2026, Blizzard made two major announcements: Diablo V, a brutal new chapter of the story coming in spring 2029, and, after teasing fans with glimpses of new StarCraft content, a new StarCraft game, launching a year later, in 2030.

The game is described as a story-driven open-world shooter, which is new for the franchise: prior entries, from the 1998 StarCraft to the 2010 StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty to the latest release, the 2017 StarCraft: Remastered, were real-time strategies. The cinematic trailer, titled Dominion, shows a human army preparing for a fight against the Zerg, with hints of the Protoss as well. There's no information yet on the plot, gameplay, or whether the game will be first- or third-person.

According to Dan Hay, general manager and vice president at Blizzard Entertainment, the story will be told from the Terrans' perspective. He also explained that announcing the 2030 release date this far out gives the project clarity and helps focus development. "The date makes it very real," he told Polygon. Hay added that the team felt ready to share the reveal and gather early player feedback, especially given how meaningful the original StarCraft games are to fans.

In a new interview with Bloomberg, President Johanna Faries shared that the company is aimed at "showing confidence in some of [the company's] biggest projects."

Also, Blizzard announced a new hero in Heroes of the Storm, a new animated series set in the world of Diablo in development with Netflix, a new Overwatch hero, a revamped journal in Hearthstone, World of Warcraft's update, and more.

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