It sounds crazy, but the StarCraft franchise seems to be less and less interested in Activision Blizzard. This can be judged by the latest financial report from the publisher.
StarCraft II
A curious detail in the report for the second fiscal quarter drew the attention of Jason Schreier, editor of Kotaku.
The document informs:
Activision Blizzard earnings exceeded forecast figures in the second quarter, <...> as we continue to change our business for the sake of future growth. We are expanding our Call of Duty, Candy Crush, Warcraft, Hearthstone, Overwatch and Diablo development teams to accelerate content creation, introduce new business models, build community and delight players.
One of the oldest Blizzard series — StarCraft — is not mentioned here. In addition, it was recently reported that the studio canceled a first—person shooter based on StarCraft – the Ares project, which has been in development for about two years.
Both of these facts suggest that Activision Blizzard may have lost interest in StarCraft. The latter may not be developed also because the publisher has taken a course to create new IP, as PCGamesN recently reported. StarCraft doesn’t seem to fit into the company’s new growth strategy.
Two numbered parts were released under the title StarCraft. The first game was released more than 20 years ago. The entire franchise is very popular, and besides, it is one of the largest esports disciplines.