StarCraft Open-World Game Announced at BlizzCon, Coming in 2030

BlizzCon 2026 is off to an incredible start, as Vice President Dan Hay has unveiled our first look at the new StarCraft game, titled “StarCraft,” and the most interesting part is that it’s releasing in 2030. This means Starcraft fans have to wait nearly half a decade to return to Blizzard’s legendary franchise.

Previous reports claimed that Nexon was seeking the StarCraft IP license, but now it’s been officially revealed at BlizzCon 2026 at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. The upcoming StarCraft game has been revealed to be an open-world shooter, taking the series in a completely new direction from its real-time strategy formula.

The new Starcraft game is technically a Starcraft 3, as it will mark the next mainline entry in the series. Blizzard revealed a new StarCraft trailer for the upcoming game, which featured a montage of Terran Dominion recruits training for war and fighting the Swarm. The character featured in the trailer is named Holt, and we see the entirety of it through his point of view.

For those unaware, the last mainline StarCraft game was StarCraft 2, released way back in 2010. So, the legendary franchise finally returns to the battle after nearly two decades of absence. Of course, Starcraft 2 had several DLCs as well, with the final one titled Starcraft: Legacy of the Void, released in 2015, but it felt like Blizzard wouldn’t return to the series.

With the new announcement, rather than simply returning to the real-time strategy formula that defined the series for decades, Blizzard is using the universe as the foundation for an entirely different type of experience: an open-world shooter, which will be a first for the legendary StarCraft franchise.

That said, are you excited for the new StarCraft game coming in 2030? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.