Ultra Rumor: CVG says Blizzard announcing Starcraft MMO

56 Comments by Alexander Sliwinski May 5th 2007 5:25PM
Filed under: PC, RPGs, MMO

CVG is reporting that Blizzard's big announcement at the Korean World Wide Invitational (WWI) May 19 is an MMO based on Starcraft. Either CVG has the best inside Blizzard source ever, or some writer at CVG is begging for a pink slip reporting this as fact. CVG says, "The unveiling of the new installment [of Starcraft 2] has previously been rumoured for the South Korea event, though we now know that the title is in fact (emphasis ours) an online spin-off and not a new RTS game as previously assumed."

Despite saying the information is straight-up-fact, we can't help but be in shock and awe of the information. If true, it would open up a Pandora's Box of questions. How far is this MMO along? Will Blizzard really unleash another MMO to compete against their already insane mega-hit World of Warcraft, which sits comfortably perched atop the MMO ladder with 8.5 million subscribers? Starcraft 2, as an RTS, being announced at the Korean event would have made perfect sense, but this "fact" based information that CVG received seems to blow that out of the water.

Tags: blizzard, rumor, starcraft, warcraft, world

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

SecretCow: May 5th 2007; 5:29PM

NOOO! At least make it a MMORTS?

ObsidianX: May 5th 2007; 5:37PM

NOOO! Atleast make it an MMOFPS!

Kesah: May 5th 2007; 5:44PM

NOOO! Make it Diablo 3. And NOT an MMO version. =)

Mossflower: May 5th 2007; 5:55PM

NOOOO! Just make Starcraft 2!

Jon: May 5th 2007; 6:02PM

NOOO!!! Starcraft sucks. Make Diablo MMO!

Huey2k2: May 5th 2007; 6:02PM

Ridiculous... I don't see why Blizzard would release another MMO when WoW is already extremely popular, why bother?

Some of these theories are so stupid. Let's take this a step further shall we?... Blizzard recently had job ads for next gen MMO developers did they not? So they are obviously announcing a Starcraft MMO for next gen consoles. Nobody will see it coming!

See I can make up ridiculous theories too.

zombiejesus: May 5th 2007; 6:05PM

no your all wrong its another wow expansion with starcraft races it will be brillant!

Lynx: May 5th 2007; 6:08PM

NOOO! Huey2k2 broke the streak?

Arno: May 5th 2007; 6:11PM

NOOO! MMO's suck!!

Dirtyboy: May 5th 2007; 6:24PM

Personally I think it is the right move for Blizzard. Every online game eventually will lose most of its player base as they move onto something else. The only real reason they haven't already is most of the big challengers haven't released yet (Conan, Warhammer, etc.). The fantasy genre in MMOs is saturated and overdone and sci-fi is the next logical choice. They need a new MMO to attract not only the WoW crowd looking for something new, but also new customers who are turned off by fantasy MMOs. Probably at some point they will reduce the subscription fee of WoW and maybe make an all-encompassing fee that covers both MMOs.

TwhiT: May 5th 2007; 6:34PM

NOOOO!!! make it a MMORPGRTSFPS!!! yeeeaaaaah, thats the tickit!!! mmmyeeaah!

Rubang B: May 5th 2007; 6:39PM

NOOOOOOOOO just make another StarCraft expansion with new units, maps, and playable Xel'Naga!

rTwelve: May 5th 2007; 6:45PM

DO NOT WANT!! make backstroke of the west ii!

I live in Korea: May 5th 2007; 6:47PM

HELL!!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!! Starcraft 2 RTS please, we don't need anymore MMORPGs. Death to all MMORPGs. F**k WOW!!!

Yeah i said it, F**k WOW!!!

Ralod: May 5th 2007; 6:48PM

Meh I don't believe it. Starcraft 2 would be like printing money. It would sell so many copies it would not be funny. With a MMO your looking at a much smaller market, and it will just pull people from there already mega hit MMO. Over all I think they would stand to make from more from a starcraft 2, that nearly everyone would want, over a MMO only a relatively minor group would want.

But I guess we will just have to wait a few weeks and see.

Skornogr4phy: May 5th 2007; 6:50PM

Diablo MMO would be so much better.

Kesah: May 5th 2007; 7:01PM

@Ralod:

And Diablo 3 wouldn't be an even larger money maker?

IIRC Diablo 2 is the third best selling game of all time, behind Super Mario Brothers 3 and The Sims.

LongshotX: May 5th 2007; 7:04PM

Please put on Xbox 360. That is all I am asking. I don't care what it is. I love starcraft. Just take your time and do it right and put in on 360 and PC.

Lictor: May 5th 2007; 7:05PM

One possibility - although the CVG assumption does sound far-fetched - is that World of Starcraft will be console-exclusive in order to latch onto the admittedly massive market that does not play games on PC.

syco: May 5th 2007; 7:37PM

Damnit. Doesn't anyone make decent RTS games anymore?

Brad: May 5th 2007; 7:39PM

Well... even though I'm not a huge fan of MMORPG's...

Man, World of Starcraft would rock.

Dan: May 5th 2007; 7:45PM

We don't know how big wow is in korea though. If koreans dont play much wow, then this would be a great move, because they phreaking love starcraft.

Trace: May 5th 2007; 8:04PM

I have a super secret inside source. My friend's neighbor's hairdresser's boss is a cousin to a guy who works at Blizzard. This will be a completely new franchise that plays like Diablo, and will be based off of The Lost Vikings.

But you never heard it from me!

funkture: May 5th 2007; 8:09PM

YESSSSSSSSSsS!!! Er... I mean NOOOOOOOO!!

Ryuukuro: May 5th 2007; 8:34PM

NOOOO more of this JOOOOKE!!!

Nater: May 5th 2007; 8:35PM

This is old.

i knew this a while ago, Blizzard even said that they were changing all existing games to MMO's

Snake: May 5th 2007; 9:01PM

I could've sworn that Blizzard said that the next Starcraft game was NOT going to be just "World of Starcraft." (In name or spirit)

I'd rather see another RTS. WoW is enough amazing MMORPG experience for me.

gir: May 5th 2007; 9:10PM

NOOOOOOOOO!!!! Make Red Alert 3 instead.

Mark: May 5th 2007; 9:11PM

YES!!! Galaxy of Starcraft? Universe? Is World of Warcraft inside this universe? Draenei = Protoss? Naaru = Xel'Naga? What? Possible? Mind-blowing.

bounchfx: May 5th 2007; 9:51PM

please. and make it semi fps like tabula rasa. that would be amazing.

mike: May 5th 2007; 9:59PM

I think blizzard knows that Stracraft fans (especially koreans) want nothing more then a starcraft 2 RTS game. If blizzard wants to announce a world of starcraft, they can do that, and be booed in the process. But if they make that announcment at a korean event in korea, the citzens just may litteraly kill all blizzard representives on spot.

Lets just hope blizzard does not want to die, and announces starcraft 2 RTS

Thomas: May 5th 2007; 10:05PM

I for one think that a Battlefield-type game would be a better idea than another RPG.

Defenestrator2.0: May 5th 2007; 11:05PM

NOOOOOOOOO! I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO PAY SHITTY MONTHLY FEES!

Hafk: May 5th 2007; 11:33PM

@ 10

They have that game, it is called Phantasy Star Online.

O_o: May 5th 2007; 11:56PM

MMO earns $$$.

Their next game is an MMO.

Makes perfect sense.

Ken: May 6th 2007; 12:05AM

I want to say "NOOOOo!!!" because I want a RTS myself.

But World of Starcraft would be pretty sweet. :)

LordMinogue: May 6th 2007; 12:33AM

How could you possibly balance such a thing?

I can see it now:

Player 1: I chose Ghost as my class, I can turn invisible, nuke cities, and paralyze battle cruisers! What can you do?

Player 2: Err, I'm a Zelot. I can slash things with my swords?

Night Elve: May 6th 2007; 1:19AM

I don't want a StarCraft MMO! I will hate Blizzard my entire life if this happens!

Joe: May 6th 2007; 1:50AM

Blizzard best be ready to hear "nuclear launch detected" at their command center if it's not an rts... and it won't be North Korea.

Jesta: May 6th 2007; 2:03AM

@37

It was balanced in Starcraft Ghost.

I was lucky enough to play it at blizzcon 2005 before they scrapped it, and honestly it would of blew halo out of the water, it was great.

Zerglings could easily take down a Ghost in multiplayer (in SC:Ghost). In fact, zerglings were rather overpowered.

rinks: May 6th 2007; 2:40AM

Well, this would just be announcing that it's started- a fact we knew about WoW oh, 5 years before it actually came out. So it's not like this will be entering into direct competition with WoW- just be its successor when numbers start to slip.

Matt: May 6th 2007; 3:41AM

What nobody seems to understand is that by the time they're done with a new MMO, it would be 2010 or later. By then WoW would be six years old. That's about the average shelf life of an MMO, and interest will be dwindling by then.

Not dwindling like "oh my god we only have ten players!" but dwindling like "oh my god we only have... six million instead of eight millions!"

;)

syco: May 6th 2007; 7:06AM

Jesta... I don't know what you're talking about, but SC:Ghost was canceled... Don't use it for arguments about how the possible future Starcraft could possibly be balanced. That argument is flawed on so many different levels.

The fact of the matter is, Starcraft was a good game, though it is something like a million years old now. A new version of it would be extremely popular. An MMO of it would also be popular, just the name "Starcraft" would ensure that, but it wouldn't be as popular as either WoW or a straight RTS. They would also have to significantly alter the relative strengths and weaknesses of the classes to make them balanced, as before a Ghost was a much more powerful unit than a Firebat, because it was further up the tech tree. In an MMO, Ghosts and Soldiers would be classes, and thus would have to be somewhat balanced against each other (though, as proven by the continued lack of a nerf on locks in WoW, it's obvious Blizzard isn't going to cry over obviously overpowered classes).

Matt: May 6th 2007; 9:27AM

@43

Did you not read his post? He said:

"I was lucky enough to play it at blizzcon 2005 before they scrapped it, and honestly it would of blew halo out of the water, it was great."

miles foreman: May 6th 2007; 9:36AM

Why would they make a Starcraft MMO? It will directly compete with the other big MMO on the market... World of Warcraft.

Dale: May 6th 2007; 11:26AM

When I heard they had an announcement to make in Korea, an MMORPG Starcraft was my first thought. Korea is known as a land obsessed with MMORPGs, they have been massively successful in the space with another of their IPs, and a space setting would really justify the extra bells and whistles of a brand new engine.

Phillip: May 6th 2007; 11:37AM

ahahahahaha! That is EXACTLY what I've been predicting the past week!

I've also predicted that there will be a Half Life MMO eventually (I'll be a headcrab). While I was on this roll, a friend predicted that there will be a halo MMO as well.

I then predicted that at the end of halo 3, Master Chief has to go back in time to stop the flood from ever coming into existence... he pulls off his helmet, picks up a crowbar, and jumps back to black mesa where you pick up as Gordon Freeman. :)

Phillip: May 6th 2007; 11:39AM

I also mentioned that Blizzard should take the WoW engine and make a WoW2 game that competed with but looked, felt, and played exactly like WoW. Then people would buy two subscriptions at once.

Perhaps a StarCraft MMO is a similar move. ;)