Should Blizzard Finally Make a New StarCraft?

StarCraft is one of the franchises that made Blizzard into what it is today. In fact, it’s easy to argue that while Warcraft laid the groundwork for the company’s later success, it was StarCraft that transformed Blizzard from an average publisher into a behemoth of the industry. With that in mind, it can be a little surprising to look at the full breadth of the franchise and note that it’s only ever had two formal games (albeit with expansions and extra campaigns added after release to lengthen the storyline).

The last fully original entry in the series, StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void, launched ten years ago and closed out the series on a high note. Since then, outside of DLC like Nova Covert Ops, the 2017 remastered edition of the original game, and a few cancelled titles, there has been little momentum for the series. As a fan of the series, I’m torn about that. While there’s a real part of me that would love to see more StarCraft out in the world and think it could be a great avenue for new storytelling opportunities, I’m not sure if I want to disrupt the incredibly satisfying ending the series currently has.

StarCraft Has A Lot Of Room For Potential New Stories

StarCraft established a massive universe that could easily justify dozens of new titles, but I’m not sure if it necessarily needs any. The universe of StarCraft was a massive one, with a host of different factions jockeying for power within their respective races. The massive worldbuilding was incredibly impressive, especially in the way gameplay would open up new worlds and different challenges for players to encounter. A sequel to StarCraft could go in all sorts of different directions, potentially exploring new storytelling angles. A follow-up could shift to settings like Earth, which have been largely ignored up to this point in the franchise.

It could expand to the unseen corners of the galaxy, introducing new kinds of worlds or even entirely new species. The differing factions could get their own dedicated storylines, focusing the storytelling on a more specific arc than the larger universal scale of the previous games. The moral complexities of the StarCraft universe could easily justify a new drama, and a refinement of the RTS-gameplay could benefit from the advances in Blizzard’s game development since StarCraft II‘s final campaign DLC was released almost a decade ago.

StarCraft Had A Great Ending That A Sequel Would Naturally Undo

However, just because StarCraft could easily justify a sequel doesn’t mean it necessarily needs one. Blizzard as a whole has always focused on the strength of design over continuing a franchise for the sheer sake of it. There’s been no formal announcement of a StarCraft III, although there have been canceled spin-offs like StarCraft: Ghost and StarCraft: Ares that would have brought the universe to life through different genres. It also doesn’t seem like Blizzard really sees the need to create such a follow-up.

StarCraft II also benefits from having a very strong concluding chapter, with the emotional resonance of Legacy of the Void‘s finale serving as a fitting finale for the series that more or less resolved the narratives of the established characters while affirming a long-sought peace between the franchise’s primary three races. Returning to the universe and introducing new conflicts could potentially undo a lot of the natural growth that came with that conclusion. There’s also no reason StarCraft can’t continue to be a cultural institution of gaming, even without a new sequel that experiments with the gameplay or ruins the strong ending of the campaign. StarCraft remains a major success in the professional gaming world, and that doesn’t feel like it is ever going to change.

I May Want A New Starcraft, But It Might Be Better If We Don’t Get One

I love StarCraft, and have since I was introduced to it as a kid. Even beyond the tight gameplay and terrific worldbuilding, I’ve always had a soft spot for the game’s riff on the sci-fi epic. It has flawed characters as the best of heroes and memorably vicious villains, giving it a depth that a lot of other sci-fi games can feel like they’re lacking. It’s a world that I still find fascinating, with an ending that I still find moving almost a decade later. It’s a great finale for one of the best sci-fi stories in gaming, and I’m not sure I ever want to see it thrown off by a follow-up. In fact, the story having a conclusive finale is one of the things I love about this series, giving it a sense of closure that few other franchises in the medium have ever achieved.

Even from a gaming perspective, I’m not sure that StarCraft needs to be revisited. Blizzard crafted a very tight control scheme and a visually rich world that still looks fantastic years later. With plenty of other franchises under the Blizzard umbrella, like Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch, that are more naturally suited for further experimentation and invention, it would feel like a waste for Blizzard to try and improve on the perfection that came with StarCraft II. If Blizzard were to announce StarCraft III, I’d be the first person in line to get a copy — but even as a huge fan of the series, I don’t think we necessarily need one.