Blizzard's New StarCraft Shooter Is Reportedly In Development With Arc Raider’s Devs

A new report published on the Korean site dnews suggests Blizzard Entertainment has partnered with Korean gaming giant Nexon, the owner of Embark Studios, which is the developer of Arc Raiders and The Finals, to create a new shooter based on the StarCraft intellectual property. This information comes from industry sources who claim a cooperation contract was signed between the two companies last year for content development related to the franchise.

Nexon has reportedly assembled a dedicated team for this new project, housing it within its shooting game division, which points directly to the game’s genre. To guide this team, famed StarCraft modder Choi Jun-ho has apparently been hired, adding a layer of classic expertise to the modern development effort. This development follows a trail of rumors and reports that have been building over the past year. Suspicions arose earlier this year that Blizzard was preparing a significant StarCraft announcement for BlizzCon in September 2026.

These whispers were themselves preceded by talk from last year that a StarCraft shooter was actively in development. This new information seems to confirm what was previously speculation, adding corporate partnership details to the ongoing narrative. I see this move as a significant step for a franchise that has been relatively quiet on the new game front for several years, potentially signaling a major revival.

The project is reportedly being helmed by Dan Hay, a significant figure who joined Blizzard in 2022 as a general manager and vice president. Hay previously worked at Ubisoft, joining in 2011 to work on Far Cry 3 and later becoming the executive producer for the entire Far Cry brand, shipping titles like Far Cry Blood Dragon, Far Cry 4, and Far Cry Primal. He also served as the creative director and executive producer for Far Cry 5, and as executive director for Far Cry New Dawn and Far Cry 6, bringing extensive experience in the shooter genre to Blizzard. This news was picked up on the forum Resetera and aligns with earlier statements from respected reporter Jason Schreier. While speaking about his book, "PLAY NICE: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment," Schreier told IGN that a StarCraft shooter was indeed in the works.

"They are working on a StarCraft shooter, StarCraft is not dead at Blizzard."

— Jason Schreier

This current project marks Blizzard's third known attempt to create a shooter within the StarCraft universe. The first, and most infamous, was StarCraft: Ghost. Announced in 2002, it was planned as a tactical-action console game where players would take on the role of a deadly Ghost operative working for the Dominion. After a series of delays, the game was officially canceled in 2006, almost two decades ago, becoming a legendary piece of vaporware among the gaming community.

A second attempt, codenamed Ares, was developed internally but never formally announced. Reports suggested this project was "like Battlefield in the StarCraft universe," aiming for a large-scale conflict experience. However, Ares was canceled in 2019, with the company’s resources being reallocated to focus on the development of Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2. Given this history, the community has reason to be both excited and skeptical. I do think the partnership with an external studio like Nexon could be the key to finally bringing this long-held concept to fruition. This collaborative model is not entirely new for Blizzard. The company previously partnered with the Chinese gaming giant NetEase to produce the mobile game Diablo Immortal.

Despite a later falling out between the two companies, Diablo Immortal remains a key component of the Diablo franchise's overall strategy, proving the viability of such partnerships. The collaboration with Nexon, a company that produced The First Berserker: Khazan and the acclaimed Dave the Diver, and which runs major online games like Sudden Attack and MapleStory, brings a different set of expertise to the table. One of the main questions surrounding this new shooter is how it will differentiate itself from Overwatch, Blizzard's other successful futuristic multiplayer shooter.

The company’s design philosophy is fundamentally about people playing together, so a multiplayer component is almost a certainty. The challenge will be to carve out a unique identity for a StarCraft shooter that allows it to coexist alongside Overwatch without cannibalizing its player base. Hints about a renewed focus on StarCraft have appeared in subtle ways, such as when Microsoft Gaming boss Phil Spencer wore a StarCraft t-shirt during Xbox's Tokyo Game Show 2024 broadcast, a move that came shortly before StarCraft: Remastered and the StarCraft 2: Campaign Collection were added to the Game Pass subscription service.