A new job posting for a Lead Designer, Innovation has gone up on the studio’s careers page, sparking speculation that it might finally be taking its rumored Starcraft project into development.

The posting lists several important details, including the fact that the project is a “AAA shooter” and that the job requires expertise working with Unreal Engine. That could be a giveaway considering the studio’s tendency to work with in-house engines, and the extensive experience requirement is a sign that the mystery project is a big one, and requires a seasoned hand at the helm of its design philosophies.

Putting all these together makes Starcraft a logical choice for the project, although nothing’s been officially confirmed at this point. We’d take this with a pinch of salt until an announcement from the studio. However, we’re the first to admit it’s hard not to hope for a new title in the sci-fi franchise after the long years of waiting for one. Time will reveal all, but until then, we’re keeping our fingers crossed… at least, until BlizzCon 2026, which runs from September 12th to 13th.

Nexon also reportedly signed a contract with Blizzard last year for StarCraft-related “content development,” according to the site’s sources. While a “dedicated team” has been established at Nexon’s Shooter Headquarters (which created Sudden Attack), the studio is still allegedly recruiting. It even brought on Choi Jun-Ho, who created the legendary Temple Smashing map for the original StarCraft.

The only talent that we really heard is involved is Dan Hay, best known for the Far Cry franchise. But despite this being a “cooperation contract,” Nexon is allegedly leading development instead of Blizzard. It’s apparently in the process of prototyping and evaluating “commercial viability.”

While it remains to be seen when – and if – it will be revealed, there’s doubtless excitement over the project. After all, Blizzard announced StarCraft: Ghost back in 2002 as a stealth action title set in the beloved universe. However, it would subsequently face delays and multiple reboots to its concept. It was ultimately confirmed as cancelled in 2014.

Assuming development is far enough along, there could be a reveal at Xbox’s June showcase, if not in August at Gamescom. It probably shouldn’t be expected anytime soon, though. Stay tuned for any details in the meantime.

The apparent reasoning for this is simple: A new Amazon TV show is in the works. Releasing a new mainline title, especially if it returns the focus to B.J. Blazkowicz (the last game, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, starred his daughters), would thus be ideal. It would also contrast with how unprepared Microsoft was for the success of the Fallout series, though remasters of Fallout 3 and New Vegas are seemingly on the way.

But that’s not all, as MachineGames is also “thought to be working” on a multiplayer title seemingly akin to Rainbow Six Siege. That would probably mean different hero-type characters, more tactical gameplay and attack vs. defend objective-based modes. Does it really make sense, especially given all the competition? Maybe not, but you can’t fault them for trying something new.

And for Blizzard fans, this year could potentially mark the return of StarCraft at BlizzCon, with Corden confirming rumors of a new third-person shooter in the franchise. Whether it will be announced or not remains to be seen, but there’s a lot to look forward to regardless.

According to the report, Blizzard has been accepting bids from Korean development studios that could potentially use the StarCraft and Overwatch IPs. The licensing for both IPs are said to be a package deal, along with rights to publish and service the games in the Japanese and Korean markets.

It is worth noting that both StarCraft and Overwatch are quite popular IPs in Korea. StarCraft, especially, has been credited as being one of the games to essentially birth the market for eSports as we know it in this day, thanks to the Korean market accepting the game with open arms.

According to MTN, the competition for this bidding war has been fierce owing to the popularity of the StarCraft IP in Korea. The report notes, however, that any studio that takes on the IP would have to surpass StarCraft 2 in terms of gameplay to gain a foothold. The report also notes that StarCraft could potentially be adapted into a MOBA or card game, but such titles would suffer from not being able to make use of the StarCraft IP to its full extent.

As for Overwatch Mobile, according to the report, the fact that distribution rights would be limited to Korea and Japan has been a sticking point, with companies wanting global rights instead.

Blizzard has been largely quiet when it comes to StarCraft, since announcing back in 2020 that no more content would be developed for StarCraft 2. The last major release in the franchise was StarCraft: Remastered all the way back in 2017.

A rumour from September 2024 indicated that Blizzard has been quietly working on a new game in the StarCraft franchise. Rather than being an RTS follow-up to StarCraft 2, however, the rumour indicates that the game is instead a shooter. The project, stated at the time to be in its early stages of development, was being headed up by the team from the since-cancelled Odyssey project. Far Cry veteran developer Dan Hay is said to be heading up the development of this spinoff.

More recently, StarCraft: Remastered and StarCraft 2: Campaign Collection have both been available to play on PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate since November last year. The multiplayer parts of StarCraft 2 is available as a free-to-play game through Blizzard’s Battle.net launcher.

Overwatch 2, on the other hand, is also available as a free-to-play title across PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch. For more details, check out the animated trailer released for Freja from back in March. Also check out details of Overwatch 2 Season 15.

That’s as per journalist Jason Schreier, who recently appeared on the IGN Unlocked podcast (caught by Windows Central) to talk about his upcoming book, Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment. While discussing the book and its contents, Schreier also touched on a new piece of alleged information mentioned in the book as well- that a new StarCraft game is in development.

As per Schreier, the game in question is a shooter spinoff. When Blizzard Entertainment cancelled its survival game, Odyssey, earlier this year as part of Microsoft’s mass layoffs (the first round), though most of the project’s development team was let go, a handful stayed behind and started incubation on a StarCraft shooter. The project, currently in the very early stages of development, is allegedly being led by Dan Hay, formerly of Ubisoft, where he was a Far Cry veteran.

This is far from Blizzard Entertainment’s first crack at a StarCraft shooter. The first was, of course, the infamous StarCraft: Ghost, which was announced in 2002, but wouldn’t be officially cancelled until over a decade later. As per reports, there was also Ares, a Battlefield-inspired shooter that was cancelled in 2019. Read more on that through here.

Whether this new project will enjoy better luck than its shelved precursors remains to be seen, but it’s certainly good news that Blizzard Entertainment is at least attempting to bring the franchise back from its extended slumber.

In other StarCraft news, StarCraft: Remastered and StarCraft 2: Campaign Collection are coming to PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate in November.

Lisa – P.T.

Throughout the various loops that the player travels in P.T., it’s revealed that the monstrous Lisa was killed by her husband. Along with having her eye gouged out, she’s injured around her stomach as well. A radio report would reveal that her husband shot Lisa while she was pregnant (with the crying fetus alluding to her child not surviving). How this all tied into Silent Hills – along with why Lisa is trapped with the player in the loop – is unknown but her backstory has attained a sad legacy of its own.

Red Dead Redemption 2 – The Donkey Lady

Red Dead Redemption had all manner of odd “glitches” but they were so elaborate that one could have thought them easter eggs. One was the Donkey Lady who had the body of a woman but the face of a donkey (obviously). Even if it was a glitch, Rockstar included her in Red Dead Redemption 2. Unfortunately, it seems that the world wasn’t kind to her existence, tying her to a horse mill until her death at Cholla Spring in Two Crows.

Noctis – Final Fantasy 15

After being pulled into the Crystal and being absent from Eos for roughly a decade (it’s a long story), Noctis returns to a darker world as, well, a darker, more kingly figure. Not only did Noctis sport a beard in the time-skip but his entire demeanour evolved significantly from the annoying aloof prince. Thankfully, this resulted in him saving the world by defeating Ardyn and sacrificing himself to purge the Starscourge.

Blizzard Entertainment is apparently working on Overwatch 2, to be announced at BlizzCon 2019 and featuring a co-op PvE component similar to Left 4 Dead. This is according to anonymous sources that spoke to Kotaku’s Jason Schreier, but in the same report, it was revealed that another project had been cancelled. Apparently, it was a StarCraft shooter, one that was like “Battlefield in the StarCraft universe.”

Codenamed “Ares“, the project had been in the works for two years and started as an experiment with the Overwatch engine. Though development was slow, prototypes were created that featured players as Terran Marines fighting Zergs. The cancellation was apparently a “massive shock”, especially since it was “looking quite good”, according to some sources.

Blizzard sent a statement to Kotaku, and while it didn’t outright confirm the existence of Ares, it did say the following: “As has been the case at Blizzard numerous times in the past, there is always the possibility that we’ll make the decision to not move forward on a given project. Announcing something before we feel it’s ready stands the risk of creating a lot of frustration and disappointment, both for our players and us, not to mention distraction and added pressure for our development teams.

“We pour our hearts and souls into this work, and as players ourselves, we know how exciting it can be to see and know with certainty that a new project is coming. Knowing that changes or disappointments can happen doesn’t make it any less painful when we have to shelve a project or when an announcement doesn’t go as planned.

“We always make decisions about these things, regardless of the ultimate outcome or how things might be interpreted, based on our values, what we believe makes sense for Blizzard, and what we hope our players will enjoy the most. The work that goes into these projects – whether they ship or not – is extraordinarily valuable. It often leads to great things and helps foster a culture of experimentation here.”

If there’s any doubt about the legitimacy of this claim, it’s worth noting the departure of animator David Gibson, who also spoke about working on something for two years that would never be seen. Resources and developers from the project have apparently been allocated to Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4, both of which are expected to be announced at BlizzCon. We’ll see how that pans out and whether the announcements actually happen, especially since Diablo 4 was rumoured to be revealed at last year’s show as well- and we all know how that turned out.

“Miller’s” Betrayal – Metal Gear Solid

For many of us in the PlayStation One days, Miller was one of the bigger betrayers. Despite assisting Solid Snake throughout his mission on Shadow Moses, especially when allies like Roy Campbell and Naomi Hunter couldn’t be trusted, Miller actually tricked him into activating Metal Gear REX. That’s because, well, he’s not actually Miller but Liquid Snake in disguise.