Jason Schreier, a renowned journalist and industry insider, recently appeared on IGN’s Unlocked podcast to discuss his upcoming book, Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment.
During the interview, he surprised many by revealing that StarCraft, the iconic game series that hasn’t had a new release since 2010, is not dormant, with Blizzard actively developing a new StarCraft title.
In the interview, Schreier expanded on a section from his book, stating that as of the time of writing, Blizzard was working on a new StarCraft project, which he described as a “shooter.”
This new game, however, is unrelated to the previously canceled StarCraft: Ghost and StarCraft: Ares, which were stealth and first-person shooter (FPS) games, respectively.
Adding more intrigue, Schreier revealed in Play Nice that Dan Hay, former Executive Director and Producer of Ubisoft’s Far Cry series—including Far Cry 3, 4, 5, 6, Primal, and Blood Dragon—is leading the development of the new StarCraft shooter.
Since February 2022, Hay has held the position of Blizzard’s Vice President and General Manager, suggesting that development on the project likely began after his arrival.
Interestingly, during Xbox’s Tokyo Game Show presentation, Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, wore a StarCraft t-shirt to tease the addition of StarCraft 2 and StarCraft: Remastered to PC Game Pass.
This disappointed some fans, who hoped the shirt hinted at a larger announcement.
Whether the new StarCraft shooter news coinciding with Spencer’s t-shirt was a deliberate tease or just a coincidence remains unclear—especially given that Microsoft now owns Blizzard Entertainment.
In Play Nice, Schreier also dives into how Bobby Kotick took control of Blizzard and provides insight into the company’s gradual loss of independence to Activision, fueled by internal conflicts between Kotick and Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime.
