Last year, Nexon was named alongside other major South Korean developers NCSOFT, Netmarble, and Krafton competing to secure development rights to the StarCraft IP, which it now appears that Nexon has won. In 2021, the publisher announced an interest in launching big titles with a “Western sensibility” suitable for Europe and North America audiences, an initiative that seems to have been realized with their most recent releases: the Nioh-inspired action-RPG, The First Berserker: Khazan and the PvEvP extraction shooter, Arc Raiders.
DNEWS, translated
According to industry sources on February 2nd, Nexon signed a contract last year with Blizzard Entertainment, the developer of StarCraft, Warcraft, and Diablo, to collaborate on content related to the StarCraft IP. The company has reportedly formed a dedicated team and recruited key talent to prepare for the project.
A particularly notable development is the addition of Choi Jun-ho, as planning lead. Choi is the creator of “Temple Destruction,” a huge hit in the StarCraft custom map modding community. Nexon’s hiring of Choi, who understands the StarCraft system and knows how to make it fun, is seen as a strategic move to explore new variations beyond the original RTS genre.
The project has reportedly been placed under the Shooter Division (Shooting Division) within Nexon, which is responsible for games like Sudden Attack. This adds weight to the belief that the StarCraft IP will be reborn as a first-person or third-person shooter (FPS/TPS) rather than a strategy simulation like the original.
Rumors of a StarCraft rebirth have been growing over the past couple years, driven by a claim from Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier that a new StarCraft shooter was already in early development. That claim was later confirmed by Windows Central Executive Editor Jez Corden, who went on to speculate that the game would headline BlizzCon 2026.
The BlizzCon 2026 promo ends with the famous StarCraft line, “it’s about time…”, which some have taken as a purposeful teaser.
However, Jason Schreier has also commented on this most recent report, stating that whatever Nexon is working on isn’t related to the first-person shooter currently in development at Blizzard, despite the report that this new Nexon project has also been placed under their Shooting Division.
This leaves us with more questions than we started, as it implies two competing StarCraft shooters are being developed, though Blizzard’s would be much further along at this point. It also seems a bit odd that Nexon would hire a famed real-time strategy map maker as any kind of lead for a shooter, though we can presume that he would be working on one of several sub-projects – it’s been difficult to verify any information about the individual or their map, though it could be one of the many Temple Siege remakes. That said, it’s also possible that plans have changed, with Nexon partnering to help Blizzard finish the game already in development.
Recap of what we know so far:
- Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier revealed that Blizzard has already been working on a new StarCraft shooter for the past few years, later confirmed by Windows Central Executive Editor Jez Corden.
- The game is being headed by Dan Hay, previous creative director and executive director of the Far Cry franchise.
- Four major Korean developers were in competition to secure IP rights, which Nexon has apparently won.
- The project has reportedly been placed under Nexon’s Shooter division, also hiring a community RTS map developer.
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