According to gaming news website Playforum.net, major Korean game publishers such as Nexon, NCSoft, Krafton, and Netmarble are competing to license the IP rights to StarCraft and and publish new games in the setting. Some publishers are said to have travelled to Blizzard headquarters to make presentations. Playforum also reports that publishing rights could extend to diverse genres such as RPG and FPS.
Korean publishers looking to license StarCraft IP; develop…
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Waxangel
United States33240 Posts
According to gaming news website Playforum.net, major Korean game publishers such as Nexon, NCSoft, Krafton, and Netmarble are competing to license the IP rights to StarCraft and and publish new games in the setting. Some publishers are said to have travelled to Blizzard headquarters to make presentations. Playforum also reports that publishing rights could extend to diverse genres such as RPG and FPS. | ||
Yoshi Kirishima
United States10318 Posts
Or maybe this is something that's been happening over the years already, just more now that Blizzard is, you know Would be very curious if they try to make a SC3... Of course, a gacha game for SC could be very interesting and cool too | ||
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Waxangel
United States33240 Posts
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CicadaSC
United States1485 Posts
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Trogdor87
3 Posts
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CicadaSC
United States1485 Posts
On March 30 2025 12:12 Trogdor87 wrote: Honestly let them do it, someone's gotta continue to build that universe outside of RTS fans i dont think anyone cares about starcraft. i could see it being a major flop and kill the IP for good. | ||
OmniSkepticSC
19 Posts
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Ludwigvan
Germany2371 Posts
archon-studio.com | ||
Vindicare605
United States16055 Posts
Starcraft wasn't a profitable part of the company when Microsoft acquired Blizzard. They're not about to spend big money on big investments with it (that means no Starcraft 3) but licensing it out to make spin off games with other developers that's something that Microsoft would definitely sign off on. And considering how much the Korean gaming community loves and respects Starcraft, I'd trust them to make spin off brands that would at least be keeping in the spirit of the originals. | ||
Chris_Havoc
United States600 Posts
I'm worried that it could end up resulting in some quick "cash-grab" games with gacha elements in deference of the Korean respect for the StarCraft franchise. If the games are rubbish, then Blizzard has sellers' remorse and shelves the IP for good. Now I'm not saying this would be like when Acclaim licensed and made six crappy Mary-Kate & Ashley Olson games 20 years ago, but you get the idea.The risk/reward on this is high. | ||
Toshinou-Kyouko
Philippines91 Posts
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Charoisaur
Germany15883 Posts
On March 30 2025 17:19 Chris_Havoc wrote: This is one of those things that could work out, or it could seriously backfire depending on the quality of the games. I'm worried that it could end up resulting in some quick "cash-grab" games with gacha elements in deference of the Korean respect for the StarCraft franchise. If the games are rubbish, then Blizzard has sellers' remorse and shelves the IP for good. Now I'm not saying this would be like when Acclaim licensed and made six crappy Mary-Kate & Ashley Olson games 20 years ago, but you get the idea.The risk/reward on this is high. But they have already shelved the IP. I don't know how the situation could get worse | ||
Chris_Havoc
United States600 Posts
On March 30 2025 18:17 Charoisaur wrote: But they have already shelved the IP. I don't know how the situation could get worse Not entirely true. Blizzard recently released a StarCraft-themed card set for Hearthstone. So Blizzard is still thinking about StarCraft, albeit not much. | ||
JeanPreez
1 Post
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JimmyJRaynor
Canada16647 Posts
Ubisoft just auctioned off it's 3 biggest IPs. From 2022-2024, Atari resurrected many ancient IPs and done an amazing job. I hope the trend continues. First thing they need to do is fix Jim Raynor. He should be a beat up, broken down, aging guy. Like this guy here... ![]() They botched Raynor's physical appearance in SC2. He was perfect in SC1. Raynor is supposed to be congruent with the compromised detectives played by Jason Patric in the movies Rush and Narc. He is not supposed to be some amazing super power guy. | ||
Creager
Germany1889 Posts
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jinjin5000
United States1400 Posts
Krafton- least bad, but only flagship is pubg and recently inzoi , no real history Ncsoft-p2w mmoslop notorious even among korean p2w sphere Nexon- best studios but their flagship monetization is p2w like mabinogi/fifa online/dungeon and fighter/maplestory ect Netmarble-p2w gacha cashgrab slops | ||
Cricketer12
United States13969 Posts
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Waxangel
United States33240 Posts
On March 30 2025 17:19 Chris_Havoc wrote: This is one of those things that could work out, or it could seriously backfire depending on the quality of the games. I'm worried that it could end up resulting in some quick "cash-grab" games with gacha elements in deference of the Korean respect for the StarCraft franchise. If the games are rubbish, then Blizzard has sellers' remorse and shelves the IP for good. Now I'm not saying this would be like when Acclaim licensed and made six crappy Mary-Kate & Ashley Olson games 20 years ago, but you get the idea.The risk/reward on this is high. I think in the mobile-only space, there's not much chance of a backfire. As we saw with how Diablo Immortal (heavily developed by Netease) didn't do much to hurt Diablo 4's sales, gamers easily compartmentalize away the mobile crap into a separate category. I think Blizzard would have to start leaning REALLY heavily into licensing out predatory mobile games for it to hurt their reputation/sales, and even then, they might preserve their rep if they can keep their PC/console titles relatively 'clean.' If one of the KR devs released a terribly predatory StarCraft mobile game that did like 90% of its business in east Asia (like many of their other games), I don't think Western gamers would even notice (and Eastern gamers wouldn't care because they're masochists consumers who are resigned to their defeat at the hands of hyper-capitalism). | ||
TelecoM
United States10667 Posts
A new generation! | ||
goody153
44072 Posts
This would be a step in a good direction | ||
iFU.pauline
France1515 Posts
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Vision_
857 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6832 Posts
On March 30 2025 18:05 Toshinou-Kyouko wrote: can't wait for the starcraft gacha game with SSR Kerrigan on a school girl outfit That depiction is right on the money! Now I can't get it outta my head. But honestly, for me, everything is better than just letting it die. | ||
M3t4PhYzX
Poland4168 Posts
On March 31 2025 15:21 iFU.pauline wrote: If that means more people playing Brood War. That's cool. My thoughts exactly. | ||
WombaT
Northern Ireland24539 Posts
On March 30 2025 18:17 Charoisaur wrote: But they have already shelved the IP. I don't know how the situation could get worse At least something shelved may at some point be retrieved from the shelf. Many a franchise has went from merely dormant to dead through association with sub-par products that bomb. I don’t know if I think that is really a huge worry for me here, but it can get worse. It’s an intriguing, albeit confusing time in many ways. Microsoft have done a decent job in the RTS space in recent years, and even with their new acquisitions, some decent-ish stuff. WC3 got a little love, still not quite there, but it’s close enough to what it shoulda been at launch, least features wise. But SC is the jewel in the crown and it’s, nothing really? Quite strange to me. Of the two, I’d have thought SC2 would get more love than WC3 if I was to bet on it at the time. Or do both, or neither, but I wouldn’t have expected WC3 to get a look and not SC2 | ||
Harris1st
Germany6832 Posts
On March 31 2025 18:40 WombaT wrote: At least something shelved may at some point be retrieved from the shelf. Many a franchise has went from merely dormant to dead through association with sub-par products that bomb. I don’t know if I think that is really a huge worry for me here, but it can get worse. It’s an intriguing, albeit confusing time in many ways. Microsoft have done a decent job in the RTS space in recent years, and even with their new acquisitions, some decent-ish stuff. WC3 got a little love, still not quite there, but it’s close enough to what it shoulda been at launch, least features wise. But SC is the jewel in the crown and it’s, nothing really? Quite strange to me. Of the two, I’d have thought SC2 would get more love than WC3 if I was to bet on it at the time. Or do both, or neither, but I wouldn’t have expected WC3 to get a look and not SC2 Starcraft has the bigger RTS crowd but Warcraft is a way bigger IP in general so it actually makes senso IMO | ||
Toshinou-Kyouko
Philippines91 Posts
On March 31 2025 17:52 Harris1st wrote: That depiction is right on the money! Now I can't get it outta my head. But honestly, for me, everything is better than just letting it die. Pray that it is Nexon that gets the licensing rights so that we can have Starcraft x Blue Archive collab | ||
WombaT
Northern Ireland24539 Posts
On March 31 2025 20:22 Harris1st wrote: Starcraft has the bigger RTS crowd but Warcraft is a way bigger IP in general so it actually makes senso IMO That was my argument for not fucking up Reforged in the first place, you could maybe have dragged people who love the IP to give RTS a shot. But it was such a fuckup and gigantic PR dumpster fire that I think it was somewhat squandered. I’m happy it’s getting some fixes now mind, I prefer the SCs to watch but WC3 to play so that’s all good. SC2 does have some advantages too, the infrastructure is there for a bit of new content that’s monetisable, player base is still pretty damn good etc. | ||
Legan
Finland370 Posts
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CicadaSC
United States1485 Posts
On April 01 2025 19:39 Legan wrote: I wonder if they will get other interested parties outside South Korea to make an offer now. No one outside Korea is interested 😂 | ||
Legan
Finland370 Posts
On April 01 2025 19:56 CicadaSC wrote: + Show Spoiler + On April 01 2025 19:39 Legan wrote: I wonder if they will get other interested parties outside South Korea to make an offer now. No one outside Korea is interested 😂 Exactly. Nobody outside Korea wants SC3 or non-RTS SC games. Even tl.net, the biggest foreign SC forum, is dead because of the total lack of interest outside of Korea. It's the same with the SC subreddit and Twitch streams. No one has tried to make a successor for SC in years. In fact, we two are hallucinating about this whole thread. | ||
WombaT
Northern Ireland24539 Posts
On April 02 2025 01:20 Legan wrote: Exactly. Nobody outside Korea wants SC3 or non-RTS SC games. Even tl.net, the biggest foreign SC forum, is dead because of the total lack of interest outside of Korea. It's the same with the SC subreddit and Twitch streams. No one has tried to make a successor for SC in years. In fact, we two are hallucinating about this whole thread. RTS is still doing alright as a genre. SCs 1 and 2 are the biggest games ever made in the genre. I don’t live on Reddit but the SC sub forums are more active than I can keep track of, there’s still plenty of activity. RTS isn’t at the peak of the tree anymore sure, but it’s not like idk, jazz music which hasn’t been a mainstream commercial concern for forever. If MS don’t want to rebuild the Blizz RTS division to make an SC3 or WC4, there’s still good devs out there they could get to put out a new title, and it would probably do pretty well. Not SC1 or 2 well, but would do fine. Relic did a decent job with AoE for example, and AoE isn’t as big as SC is. | ||
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Waxangel
United States33240 Posts
On April 02 2025 01:20 Legan wrote: Exactly. Nobody outside Korea wants SC3 or non-RTS SC games. Even tl.net, the biggest foreign SC forum, is dead because of the total lack of interest outside of Korea. It's the same with the SC subreddit and Twitch streams. No one has tried to make a successor for SC in years. In fact, we two are hallucinating about this whole thread. Eh, you guys underrate the value of boomer nostalgia/established IP to a general audience. The StarCraft setting is something pretty fondly regarded by an older generation of gamers, and that kind of thing can snowball into more broad appeal. For example, Baldur's Gate 3 came out like 20+ years after Baldur's Gate 2 and ended up being a huge success. Obviously, not every nostalgia IP is gonna succeed to the degree of BG3, but established IP is generally considered a stronger foundation than trying to build a new world from scratch (to the detriment of the industry, some would say). That's why we see all sorts of game franchising getting reboots/sequels after huge gaps in publishing, and I'd say among PC-only games, SC has one of the biggest footprints for a game that could be 'revived.' | ||
WGT-Baal
France3349 Posts
On April 02 2025 08:23 Waxangel wrote: Eh, you guys underrate the value of boomer nostalgia/established IP to a general audience. The StarCraft setting is something pretty fondly regarded by an older generation of gamers, and that kind of thing can snowball into more broad appeal. For example, Baldur's Gate 3 came out like 20+ years after Baldur's Gate 2 and ended up being a huge success. Obviously, not every nostalgia IP is gonna succeed to the degree of BG3, but established IP is generally considered a stronger foundation than trying to build a new world from scratch (to the detriment of the industry, some would say). That's why we see all sorts of game franchising getting reboots/sequels after huge gaps in publishing, and I'd say among PC-only games, SC has one of the biggest footprints for a game that could be 'revived.' Monster Hunter - Aiur; Zerg (alien) vs Protoss (predator) with a campaign as seen from a poor marine; flightsim with all the flying ships/units; RPG (lots of potential), Halo style FPS; prey style FPS/RPG; witcher style RPG, Splinter cell /Assasin s Creed - Zeratul (or a ghost). Hoping for not a mobile game though ~ | ||
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digmouse
China6327 Posts
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CicadaSC
United States1485 Posts
What happened to that StarCraft shooter everyone was so sure was coming out? | ||
Harris1st
Germany6832 Posts
On April 02 2025 12:56 CicadaSC wrote: This seems conflicting when we were just getting reports there was a new StarCraft game in development... by Blizzard. What happened to that StarCraft shooter everyone was so sure was coming out? I believe it when I play it. Anything before that is just hopium. Wasn't that just from some job description/ hiring page? Interesting article https://massivelyop.com/2025/01/16/not-so-massively-what-id-like-to-see-from-a-starcraft-shooter/ | ||
kajtarp
Hungary466 Posts
On April 02 2025 01:20 Legan wrote: Exactly. Nobody outside Korea wants SC3 or non-RTS SC games. Even tl.net, the biggest foreign SC forum, is dead because of the total lack of interest outside of Korea. It's the same with the SC subreddit and Twitch streams. No one has tried to make a successor for SC in years. In fact, we two are hallucinating about this whole thread. I'm pretty sure many of us would be interested in SC3. If it was released the life you are missing from tl.net would return quite fast imho. | ||
WombaT
Northern Ireland24539 Posts
On April 02 2025 12:25 digmouse wrote: The Korean gaming industry is going through a branching out process to diversify their lineup with Nexon having Dave the Diver and First Berserker Kazan, Neowiz funding Lies of P or Shift Up doing Stellar Blade and so on, they aren't necessarily in this for a cheap mobile spin off. Yeah that’s a good point as well. Could be a ‘AA’ kinda spinoff may not necessarily some cheap mobile game. Suppose we’ll have to wait and see! | ||
kjohnny54638
2 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6832 Posts
On April 02 2025 22:24 WombaT wrote: Yeah that’s a good point as well. Could be a ‘AA’ kinda spinoff may not necessarily some cheap mobile game. Suppose we’ll have to wait and see! I imagine when you leave out all cinematics and stuff, just build a good game, you could easily get away with an AA budget, especially in RTS | ||
KameZerg
Sweden1758 Posts
On March 31 2025 01:31 JimmyJRaynor wrote: If these are fake rumours then they might be used to bring MS to the negotiating table. Ubisoft just auctioned off it's 3 biggest IPs. From 2022-2024, Atari resurrected many ancient IPs and done an amazing job. I hope the trend continues. First thing they need to do is fix Jim Raynor. He should be a beat up, broken down, aging guy. Like this guy here... ![]() They botched Raynor's physical appearance in SC2. He was perfect in SC1. Raynor is supposed to be congruent with the compromised detectives played by Jason Patric in the movies Rush and Narc. He is not supposed to be some amazing super power guy. Their story mode and characters corresponds to comic books, they can't go more complex than that. | ||
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Waxangel
United States33240 Posts
On April 02 2025 08:42 WGT-Baal wrote: Monster Hunter - Aiur; Zerg (alien) vs Protoss (predator) with a campaign as seen from a poor marine; flightsim with all the flying ships/units; RPG (lots of potential), Halo style FPS; prey style FPS/RPG; witcher style RPG, Splinter cell /Assasin s Creed - Zeratul (or a ghost). Hoping for not a mobile game though ~ If anyone has played the old Alien vs Predator games, at least the ones that were implemented as asymmetrical PvPvP, I felt like it provided a pretty ideal template for a StarCraft-based FPS or TPS game. I had fun with that game as a casual, though I imagine it's a nightmare to balance for serious competitive play. | ||
WombaT
Northern Ireland24539 Posts
On April 09 2025 14:12 Waxangel wrote: If anyone has played the old Alien vs Predator games, at least the ones that were implemented as asymmetrical PvPvP, I felt like it provided a pretty ideal template for a StarCraft-based FPS or TPS game. I had fun with that game as a casual, though I imagine it's a nightmare to balance for serious competitive play. AVP was an absolute blast | ||
WGT-Baal
France3349 Posts
It was. Agree it wouldn't be competitive but not everything has to be esport. I still consider AVP and AVP2 among my absolute favourite games of all time. | ||
goody153
44072 Posts
oh yeah i remember this game. it was amazing | ||
JimmyJRaynor
Canada16647 Posts
On March 31 2025 18:40 WombaT wrote: Many a franchise has went from merely dormant to dead through association with sub-par products that bomb. I don’t know if I think that is really a huge worry for me here, but it can get worse. Atari is pulling 30+ year old dead IP out of the grave yard and doing a great job. Lunar Lander, Berzerk, Caverns of Mars, Asteroids, Missile Command, Yars Revenge were recently resurrected. On April 09 2025 02:34 KameZerg wrote: Their story mode and characters corresponds to comic books, they can't go more complex than that. true, however, comic books can convey a complex character. they nailed Raynor perfectly in SC1. he was a beat-up, aging guy. He was a compromised "Marshall" of the Confederacy. That is inline with the characters Jason Patric played when he was "Jim Raynor" in Rush and "Nick Tellis" in Narc. They should've kept Raynor that way. | ||
shikadisoda
15 Posts
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JimmyJRaynor
Canada16647 Posts
On April 11 2025 04:26 shikadisoda wrote: im sorry but if you are sitting in 2025 worrying about starcraft's brand being sullied you need to wake up to how old you are lol. starcraft can either vanish from existence or evolve just like anything else in this world If Lunar Lander , Missile Command, and Berzerk can make a comeback...anything is possible. ![]() | ||
sudete
Singapore3054 Posts
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deacon.frost
Czech Republic12129 Posts
On April 09 2025 14:12 Waxangel wrote: If anyone has played the old Alien vs Predator games, at least the ones that were implemented as asymmetrical PvPvP, I felt like it provided a pretty ideal template for a StarCraft-based FPS or TPS game. I had fun with that game as a casual, though I imagine it's a nightmare to balance for serious competitive play. The campaign of AvP2 as a marine is one of the best horrors to this day. It is a shame we will never see a remake/remaster (the rights on the game were split between 3 parties which hate each other, nowadays 2 parties IIRC) | ||
MaverickCore
2 Posts
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