Battle.net Director Suggests StarCraft 2 Expansion Coming Early 2012

[Logan Westbrook]

Battle.net Director Suggests StarCraft 2 Expansion Coming Early 2012

The project director for Blizzard's online network may have inadvertently revealed the launch window for the second part of the StarCraft 2 trilogy.

After more than a decade of waiting, StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty [http://www.amazon.com/Starcraft-II-Wings-Liberty-Pc/dp/B000ZKA0J6/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1286530731&sr=1-1] was released earlier this year to critical acclaim and high sales. But there's more StarCraft 2 to come, and Blizzard's Greg Canessa might have let the cat out of the bag as to when we can expect it.

At the end of a session at GDC Online in Austin, TX, where he outlined the future of the Battle.net service, Canessa took questions from the audience. Answering a question about uploading and trading replays, he said that it was something that Blizzard was going to focus on "over the next 18 months between now and [the second StarCraft 2 installment] Heart of the Swarm." If that number is accurate, it means a Spring 2012 release for Heart of the Swarm.

Despite the source, it's still probably best to file this away as a rumor. Blizzard has denied that it has an official release date planned for Heart of the Swarm, and with its reputation for taking its time over its games, that eighteen months could just be a vague suggestion rather than anything fixed in stone.

Source: GameSpot [http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6281119.html]


Permalink

 

[Delusibeta]

Ehh. A date of about 18 months after the release of Wings of Liberty had been knocking around for ages, so this is just more evidence, even though it's on Blizzard time and so the only date you should trust from them is "tomorrow".

 

[felixader]

They are realy stretching this. Eh, eh? ^.^

Anyway somepeople gonna be really unhappy about this INCLUDING Bobby Kodick.

 

[samsonguy920]

Since the Terrans and the Zerg are my two most favorite factions, this pleases me. Carry on.

 

[mad825]

eighteen months could just be a vague suggestion rather than anything fixed in stone

indeed, Surely I don't need to say that there is more than "we've done it" to get the product to the market, the publishers would like to the product released in a specific season to help increase sales.

 

[HK_01]

Wait, it's just a new campaign, the graphics, units and such will stay pretty much the same, so why's it taking them so long?

Although, it is probably relatively quick considering it took them 11 years to make SC2...

 

[Amnestic]

Cannot wait. Zerg are my favourite race in StarCraft and I have high hopes for Heart of the Swarm.

It would make sense for a late Spring release since they have a habit of releasing WoW expansions around the end of the year and from what I know, Blizzard doesn't like competing with themselves

Wait, it's just a new campaign, the graphics, units and such will stay pretty much the same, so why's it taking them so long?

Voice acting, video making, storyline rehashing and then 17 months of beta testing the new units they add (and I don't doubt that they will add new units) to make sure the balance doesn't get skewed.

 

[gibboss28]

Make it sooner, please.

 

[Littaly]

I understand that it's taking time, I'm not going to underestimate or underappreciate the time and effort they put into this. Still, early 2012 is too late, I was really hoping it would come at least a couple of months sooner. Already having the first game out makes it too much of a tease.

 

[Reveras]

I can't wait to see what they'll add in Heart of the Swarm. *wink* Lurker with siege dmg as originally intended *wink*

 

[Raziello]

My fav race is the protoss which i guess ill have to wait an extra 2 years on top before i can see their campaign, however considering how long it took them to release SC after the inital announcement im not overly suprised by the long waiting period. So all in all ill just patiently wait till the next batch of SC2 goodness comes along.

 

[Kurokami]

Ehh. A date of about 18 months after the release of Wings of Liberty had been knocking around for ages, so this is just more evidence, even though it's on Blizzard time and so the only date you should trust from them is "tomorrow".

That is so true.

Not much else to add, sorry. =/

My fav race is the protoss which i guess ill have to wait an extra 2 years on top before i can see their campaign, however considering how long it took them to release SC after the inital announcement im not overly suprised by the long waiting period. So all in all ill just patiently wait till the next batch of SC2 goodness comes along.

Hey, atleast you got to play with them a bit in the Terran campaign, right?

Maybe in the next one too. (truth be told I thought they would scrap the protoss expansion and simply integrate it into the other two games)

 

[John Funk]

Wait, it's just a new campaign, the graphics, units and such will stay pretty much the same, so why's it taking them so long?

Although, it is probably relatively quick considering it took them 11 years to make SC2...

Voice acting and cutscenes, for one. But also consider the fact that the basic mission structure of SC2T - Jim Raynor walking around the Hyperion talking to people and getting missions - won't work for the Zerg. It's supposedly going to be an RPG-style thing with Kerrigan growing stronger and the Zerg evolving with her.

So, the gameplay-gameplay might be fine, but the meta-gameplay will be different.

 

[HK_01]

Wait, it's just a new campaign, the graphics, units and such will stay pretty much the same, so why's it taking them so long?

Although, it is probably relatively quick considering it took them 11 years to make SC2...

Voice acting and cutscenes, for one. But also consider the fact that the basic mission structure of SC2T - Jim Raynor walking around the Hyperion talking to people and getting missions - won't work for the Zerg. It's supposedly going to be an RPG-style thing with Kerrigan growing stronger and the Zerg evolving with her.

So, the gameplay-gameplay might be fine, but the meta-gameplay will be different.

So, just a quick question about that:

Spoiler: Spoiler!

Kerrigan is human again, right? Then how will she have anything to do with the Zerg campaign?

 

[ThePirateMan]

Wait, it's just a new campaign, the graphics, units and such will stay pretty much the same, so why's it taking them so long?

Although, it is probably relatively quick considering it took them 11 years to make SC2...

Voice acting and cutscenes, for one. But also consider the fact that the basic mission structure of SC2T - Jim Raynor walking around the Hyperion talking to people and getting missions - won't work for the Zerg. It's supposedly going to be an RPG-style thing with Kerrigan growing stronger and the Zerg evolving with her.

So, the gameplay-gameplay might be fine, but the meta-gameplay will be different.

So just a quick question:

Spoiler: Spoiler!

Kerrigan is human again, right? Then how will she have anything to do with the Zerg campaign?

Spoiler: Spoiler!

Well, chances are that she isn't completely human as she still had the weird hair things in the ending cutscene. The campaign could also take place in the past, present, future or whenever too.

Edit: And even if she isn't really zerg anymore, the fact that she was once the queen of the swarm could still pull her into the campaign.

 

[Exterminas]

Spoiler: Spoiler!

Kerrigan is human again, right? Then how will she have anything to do with the Zerg campaign?

Here is one suggestion by me, purely my stuff, but a possible way.

Spoiler: Spoiler!

They need Kerrigan to fight the Xel'Naga, but not Sarah Kerrigan, but the queen of the blades. While little jimmy was right saving her, unzerging her was a problem. So my guess is that the zerg-campaign will concern with re-zerging kerrigan, to allow her to controll the swarm again, to help fighting. But this time she should do so, without turning into a mad... person.

 

[JaredXE]

Yay, so I won't be able to play the full game until 2015 minimum. Well that's just prime. Hopefully by then the price will have dropped on the first two thirds of the game.

 

[Cousin_IT]

taking Valve sized liberties with that sort of release schedule.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Eighteen months?

Fuuuuuuu

I need my Zerg campaign and I need it now! I hate those pink, soft-skinned wussy Terrans.