Upcoming Blizzard announcement to be a new Starcraft?
by Elizabeth Harper 
May 16th 2007 at 4:30PM
With the countdown continuing on Blizzard's homepage, there's plenty of speculation on what Blizzard is cooking up. Warcraft 4? Starcraft 2? Diablo 3? I'm staying out of the speculation game, myself -- as much as we might guess and hope for a specific product, Blizzard is good at throwing us surprises. However, the Starcraft 2 rumors are growing in volume, fueled by the recent discovery of a Starcraft2.com page owned by Blizzard Entertainment which redirects viewers to Blizzard's main site. Gamespot went live with the story on Tuesday, and since then I've heard it just about everywhere. Reports of it are crowding my inbox. Barrens chat can't stop talking about it. And Blizzard rumors even seem to dominate OOC chat in Lord of the Rings Online. But is this really a sign that we're going to be hearing all about Starcraft 2 this weekend?
My magic 8-ball has informed me signs point to no. Or even if Starcraft 2 is what we're going to hear -- this isn't really a sign of it. The domain record from Network Solutions tells us that Blizzard has owned Starcraft2.com since 1999 and the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine shows the page redirecting to Blizzard's main home page since at least 2002. Starcraft2.com is neither new nor has it recently changed. No, Blizzard doesn't own Diablo3.com (it's a Diablo 3 news site), Warcraft4.com (an advertisement site), WorldofStarcraft.com (a German WoW site), or WorldofDiablo.com (a German Diablo site). But does the fact that they've owned Starcraft2.com for eight years now mean anything relevant to the coming announcement? I think not.
[Thanks to numerous tipsters]
Filed under: Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Granddad May 16th 2007 4:40PM
The whole teaser thing feels to me like something new is coming... a slow recap of past successes leading to..."?"
I think it seems unlikely Blizz would introduce a new MMO like Worlds of Starcraft and splinter their huge WoW userbase. A sequel like Diablo is possible, but... I dunno, just feels like the announcement is so hypped it's going to be all new.
Just one guy's opinion. /shrug
JLBorghead May 16th 2007 4:44PM
I bet it's gonna be Lost Vikings 2!
ripper May 16th 2007 4:53PM
can we post about this more please? seriously, there isnt any new content with them which just wastes your readers time. post when you have some new information to say.
Rich May 16th 2007 4:55PM
I agree... The horse is dead, let's stop beating it... Come Saturday, that's a different story.
Leda May 16th 2007 5:03PM
Damn, beat me to it... Lost Vikings III actually though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Vikings_II
Masterless May 16th 2007 6:16PM
Um. This is freaking dumb and theres no need to recap no 'news' daily on this. Isnt it obvious theres a Starcraft based MMO in the works. I thought everyone already new? Whats the big mystery? Its just a hype train that we dont need to go on.
Michael Davila May 16th 2007 5:12PM
Starcraft/Warcraft/Diablo Greatest hits compilation!
Milkstrike May 16th 2007 5:20PM
It'll be a completely new franchise.
Dracula Jones May 16th 2007 5:13PM
StarCraft: Ghost getting a rez? I doubt it would receive this much fanfare, though.
And considering that Lost Vikings isn't on the timeline, a sequel wouldn't make sense. Besides, they're still lost in Uldaman.
I just don't see the demand for a Diablo sequel. It's a beloved franchise, but seriously, WoW is Diablo 3.
James May 16th 2007 5:15PM
Actually, I would think the fact that they haven't gone after those other domain names is telling that they aren't interested in those. At least for the near future...
Bryce Fischer May 16th 2007 5:17PM
#3.. LoL.. wasting your time? How long did it take you to read it? How much of your time was wasted considering you were browsing wowinsider.com to begin with?
You're funny.
rich May 16th 2007 5:24PM
#7: Besides, they're still lost in Uldaman.
LOL! Glad someone gets the reference.
Nails May 16th 2007 5:25PM
i bet it's a new Black Thorne!
man that game was awesome...
Boubouille May 16th 2007 7:31PM
They don't own the sites because they probably didn't think about registering them before someone else got them.
Actually, if you want a fun exemple, diablo3.fr and diablo4.fr are registered by Blizzard and redirect to the countdown page.
txcroadshow May 16th 2007 5:35PM
Hello Kitty Island Adventure
Sam May 16th 2007 5:59PM
Oh, for the love of God! I'm sick of hearing the same BS over and over again!
No, not the announcement, but the people bashing the possibility of a StarCraft MMO because it will "compete against WoW". A company cannot compete against itself. It would provide Blizzard more money due to the new demographic: us sci-fi geeks. Not to mention the fact that a StarCraft MMO would kick all kinds of ass! Granted, it doesn't have as much "lore" as WarCraft, but there's a lot of story to pull from to make an awesome AND playable MMO. I don't care what anyone says! I'm sure it will just be a sequel, but it's StarCraft, so who cares? I've been waiting on this for almost ten years, so whether it be MMO, RTS, or whatever else, I can't wait!
And it is going to be StarCraft related. One, there's been too many leaks (which leads me to believe an MMO possibility because just the main subject matter has been leaked and not the actual content, almost as if they allowed the leak of the StarCraft 2 title, but not the MMO aspect). Two, they're announcing this in Korea, the ultimate land of StarCraft (which also leads me to believe an MMO possibility, Koreans sure do love MMO's).
Quoi May 16th 2007 6:22PM
@ Sam.
Amen, brother.
The only way WoSC would compete against WoW is if Blizzard licensed the rights to another company. It is inherently impossible for a company to compete with itself. The most they will do is double dip into the current subscriber base. I know a lot of people that would play a Starcraft MMO, but none of them would stop playing WoW to do it.
SymetriX May 16th 2007 6:16PM
Look at the bottom row of their teaser graphic: they are all the Blizzard RTS games.
Now look at the empty spot: it seems to be in the bottom row (the top has 4, the bottom has 3 plus the question mark).
It seems pretty obvious it will be an RTS, the question is will it be Warcraft IV, or Starcraft 2?
I'm sticking with Starcraft 2, although personally I'd love Warcraft IV.
sam May 16th 2007 10:04PM
recent disovery of starcraft2.com?
blizzard owned the domain starcraft2.com since 1999
http://whois.domaintools.com/starcraft2.com
Choktzul May 16th 2007 7:24PM
Personally, I think a Warcraft IV RTS game is in the works. It would allow them to provide a huge amount of lore for the next expansions. Think about it. WoW built of info in the original Warcraft 3. WoW TBC built of THe frozen throne expansion pack. BLizzard has already said they want to releaze yearly expansions and as we all know, THe TBC lore is a little out there.