When it comes to RTS games, many will argue thatStarCraftis the once and future king. That didn’t stop Blizzard from trying to top itself withStarCraft 2years later. It’s a good follow up, satisfying fans while being one of thehardest RTS games ever.
Originally released in 2010,StarCraft 2was expanded with DLC over the years. The expansion DLC includes a Zerg campaign and Protoss campaign to supplement the original Terran campaign. They also introduced a series of balancing measures and new units. After the major DLC and balance patches, the game largely coasted on minor features introduced through a mechanic called War Chests. But it seems these will no longer be regularly introduced.
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While it has technically been receiving new content for five years, it has been on a much smaller scale than DLC. War Chests are purchasable, steadily unlocking groups of cosmetic content, similar to a Battle Pass in other games. In addition, new commanders were occasionally available for individual purchase. Now these will be permanently shelved as development forStarCraft 2is halted. Blizzard has stated that no new purchasable content will be released for the game from this point forward. There’s a chance this is linked toprominent Blizzard devs leaving the company last year, especially since the flow of new commanders stopped soon after.
Blizzard has stated that this does not mean the game will no longer receive support. Future updates will include season changes and balance changes. This will be done to keep the game competitive and healthy, but new, purchasable content will no longer be made. The announcement follows on the heels ofStarCraft 2’s 10th anniversary celebration, which showed off fan-made community maps and game modes. If players want to experience something truly new in the game, fan-made content is now all they can turn to.
This announcement may come as a shock to long-time players ofStarCraft 2. Like its predecessor, the game has developed a healthy competitive community, but as mentioned above, the game will apparently still receive support. More concerning is the fact that withmostStarCraft 2support ended, the future of the franchise is uncertain.
Compounding this uncertainty is the lack of any futureStarCraftplans announced lately. Blizzard is mostly working onOverwatch 2and theDiablofranchise at the moment. With its other franchises so successful and apossibleOverwatch 2betato focus on soon, there’s a good chance no newStarCraftwill appear for a few years.
