Blizzard's Latest Attempt at a StarCraft Shooter Reportedly in Development at Nexon

Blizzard Entertainment is said to be collaborating with Nexon, a prominent gaming company from South Korea, to explore a new shooter concept within the StarCraft universe. Although Blizzard has not officially confirmed this partnership, the details emerged from a report by The Korea Economic Daily, a leading business publication in South Korea. According to the article, Nexon has established a dedicated development team focused on this project within its shooter division, with a modder experienced in StarCraft taking the lead. Blizzard has expressed interest in creating a shooter spin-off from its iconic sci-fi real-time strategy series for some time. Meanwhile, Nexon has made strides in the Western shooter market, primarily through its ownership of Embark Studio, the team behind games like The Finals and Arc Raiders. However, the report takes a cautious stance regarding the project's prospects. It references a previous Nexon collaboration with Square Enix that aimed to create a Final Fantasy spin-off, which ultimately stalled during the planning phase. This sentiment of caution is echoed by Blizzard's own history with failed StarCraft spin-off endeavors. The initial attempt, StarCraft Ghost, was announced in 2002 and aimed to shift the franchise into a tactical-action console format, allowing players to assume the role of a lethal Ghost operative within the Dominion. Unfortunately, it was canceled in 2006 due to multiple delays. A second effort, codenamed Ares, was scrapped in 2019 as Blizzard redirected its focus toward Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2. Ares was described as a shooter akin to Battlefield set in the StarCraft universe, but, like Ghost, it was ultimately abandoned. In 2024, Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier revealed that another StarCraft shooter was in development at Blizzard, led by Dan Hay, a former executive producer from the Far Cry series who joined Blizzard in 2022. It remains uncertain whether Nexon's new shooter is the same project that Hay was overseeing or a fresh iteration altogether. This ambiguity is heightened by the fact that Hay's project reportedly began two years ago, while Nexon's initiative appears to be more recent and based in a different region.