"New StarCraft Game Pitches from Korean Developers to Blizzard"

Blizzard is reportedly receiving pitches for new StarCraft video games from several Korean studios. According to Asia Today, as highlighted by X / Twitter account @KoreaXboxnews, four companies are vying to develop new games based on the StarCraft IP and secure publishing rights: NCSoft, Nexon, Netmarble, and Krafton. Representatives from some of these studios have reportedly visited Blizzard's headquarters in Irvine, California, to present their proposals.

NCSoft, known for the Lineage and Guild Wars MMOs, is pitching a StarCraft RPG, possibly an MMORPG. Nexon, the developer behind The First Descendant, has proposed a "unique" use of the StarCraft IP. Netmarble, with titles like Solo Leveling: Arise and Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, is aiming to create a StarCraft mobile game. Krafton, famous for PUBG and inZOI, wants to leverage its development capabilities to produce a StarCraft game.

While pitches between video game companies are common, the interest in expanding the StarCraft universe is significant, especially given the time since the last game in the franchise. Activision Blizzard has declined to comment on these developments.

In September, it was revealed that Blizzard is making another attempt at developing a StarCraft shooter, led by former Far Cry executive producer Dan Hay, who joined Blizzard in 2022. This information came from Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier during a discussion on IGN's Podcast Unlocked about his book, "Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment." Schreier noted that while the project was in development at the time of writing, Blizzard's history with StarCraft shooters has been fraught with challenges.

Blizzard has had two previous attempts at a StarCraft shooter: StarCraft Ghost, announced in 2002 and canceled in 2006, and Ares, canceled in 2019 to focus on Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2. More recently, Blizzard was seen hiring for an "upcoming open-world shooter game," which many believe to be another StarCraft FPS.

In other StarCraft-related news, Blizzard has released StarCraft: Remastered and StarCraft 2: Campaign Collection on Game Pass, and announced a crossover with the Warcraft card game Hearthstone, indicating a slow but steady ramp-up in activity around the beloved sci-fi franchise.