Blizzard Entertainment has set the internet alight by appearing to tease a StarCraft announcement during its upcoming BlizzCon expo.
As spotted by GamesRadar, the official StarCraft website seems to be showcasing an ARG-style teaser campaign, with glitching effects occurring across various pages on the site. The content on the main page shows marketing for StarCraft Remastered, as it has for many years—but the visual artifacts appear to hint something new will be coming soon.
The news set rabid fans on the hunt, with Reddit users digging into the website and uncovering hidden assets buried deep in the site’s code. References to plot points and organizations from StarCraft lore appeared, leading to frenzied posts on social media trying to put together the clues’ meanings.
The official StarCraft website seems to be showcasing an ARG-style teaser campaign, with glitching effects occurring across various pages on the site.
This new ARG (alternate reality game) comes hot on the heels of recent reports that the South Korean publisher was close to sealing a deal with Blizzard for IP development rights for StarCraft, which some rumored could see the company set to work on StarCraft 3. However, those rumors have since been downgraded, with doubt cast on the original report by Chosun Daily, a popular newspaper in Korea.
ARGs are also Blizzard’s favorite way to reveal its titles, with the company utilizing the interactive method for multiple titles over the years, including the infamous ARG for Overwatch hero Sombra, which went on for months and had fans doing all sorts to uncover details about the mysterious hacker. She was ultimately unveiled at BlizzCon 2016 to much fanfare and the lengthy ARG received high praise from fans for its depth and interactivity.
What StarCraft Fans Have Discovered So Far
According to eager fans online, exploring the StarCraft website’s code reveals an embedded .wav file that is labelled as a distress transmission. Once run through a spectrograph analyzer, fans were able to find tactical armor schematics for Terran Marines, as well mention of a Theta Squadron military force.
Transmissions also uncovered are directed towards the in-game world Roxara, a mining colony which featured heavily in the lore of the long-canceled StarCraft: Ghost title. The code also shows that the mining complex has no registered living occupants, but scans show “14 unidentified motion signatures” suggesting aliens have infested the location.
The logs are dated with the year 2575: a huge gap of 67 years since the events of StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void, which ended around 2508. Fans believe the new story will take place during this new period.
Transmissions also uncovered are directed towards the in-game world Roxara, a mining colony which featured heavily in the lore of the long-canceled StarCraft: Ghost title.
Putting these clues together, fans believe it’s likely that a PvE co-op shooter title is likely, in the style of Helldivers or other extraction games on the market now. It wouldn’t be a surprise, since it seems everyone and their dog is trying to break into the highly-popular genre at the moment.
Others have shared their hope that Blizzard may be reviving StarCraft: Ghost after it was canceled years back, causing monumental grief to fans who were eagerly anticipating the title. The connections between the lore of the canceled title and the new ARG suggest that there is at least a minor possibility that it could make a comeback.
A new game in the series would be the first since StarCraft II, which launched in 2010 and superseded the aging original title, first released in 1998. Blizzard launched a remastered version of StarCraft in 2017 to strong reviews.
Blizzard Shows It Still Holds The Cards on StarCraft
Despite reports about South Korean publisher Nexon taking over the StarCraft IP, fans will be breathing a sigh of relief that Blizzard seems to finally be giving some love to its long-ignored sci-fi franchise. A conspicuous gap in BlizzCon proceedings, due to be held on September 12 and 13, has whetted fans’ appetites and led to rumors that StarCraft may be making a big comeback at the expo.
When news surfaced about a reported Nexon deal, players online lamented StarCraft’s apparently limited value to Blizzard, who were reportedly handing it over to a studio well-known for making mobile live-service titles. Fans feared their beloved sci-fi series would be turned into a gacha cash cow, but the new ARG seems to show Blizzard still has something to give to StarCraft followers.
The franchise has a major following around the world, but primarily in South Korea, where it still ranks among the top 10 most played games in Korean PC cafés, almost 30 years after its original release.
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