Mon, May 03, 2010 | 22:51 BST

StarCraft II releasing worldwide on July 27

starcraftii25

Oh yes. It’s finally happening.

Blizzard can be called many things, but a liar isn’t one of them. You wanted a mid-year release date? Now you’ve got one.

“We’ve been looking forward to revisiting the StarCraft universe for many years, and we’re excited that the time for that is almost here,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Thanks to our beta testers, we’re making great progress on the final stages of development, and we’ll be ready to welcome players all over the world to StarCraft II and the new Battle.net in just a few months.”

For now, this date’s a retail-only thing. The game will be venturing over to Blizzard’s download service “shortly after” its retail launch. Full press release is below.

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that its highly anticipated real-time strategy game, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, will arrive in stores throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Mexico, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau starting on July 27, 2010. Players will also be able to purchase StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty directly from Blizzard Entertainment shortly after the retail launch.

“We’ve been looking forward to revisiting the StarCraft universe for many years, and we’re excited that the time for that is almost here,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Thanks to our beta testers, we’re making great progress on the final stages of development, and we’ll be ready to welcome players all over the world to StarCraft II and the new Battle.net in just a few months.”

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the sequel to Blizzard Entertainment’s 1998 hit StarCraft, which has been hailed by players and critics worldwide as one of the top real-time strategy games of all time. Sporting a vibrant 3D-graphics engine, StarCraft II will once again center on the clash between the protoss, terrans, and zerg, with each side deploying legions of veteran, upgraded, and new unit types. Unparalleled online play for StarCraft II will be available through a new version of Battle.net, Blizzard Entertainment’s world-renowned gaming service. Battle.net has been redesigned from the ground up to be the premier online gaming destination for Blizzard gamers, with several enhancements and new features, such as voice communication, cloud file storage, leagues and ladders, achievements, stat-tracking, and more.

The solo campaign for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will continue the epic saga where it left off in StarCraft: Brood War. The story line chronicles the exploits of marshal-turned-rebel-leader Jim Raynor and features both familiar faces and new heroes. Players will be able to tailor the experience, choosing their own mission path and selecting technology and research upgrades to suit their playing style throughout the 29-mission campaign. Several challenge-mode mini-games will also be included, with focused goals designed to ease players into the basics of multiplayer strategies.

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23 comments

Erthazus
03/05/10, 10:43 pm

FINALLY MOTHERFUCKERS!

Game of the century have arrived. This beast no one can’t beat. It’s going to be the best Singleplayer and multiplayer experience EVER. This game will be a benchmark for another 10-20 years.

July will be the best month in gaming this year.

absolutezero
03/05/10, 10:44 pm

Can I has Diablo 3 please.

Gekidami
03/05/10, 10:45 pm

YawnCraft 2.

Diablo 3 please, Blizzard.

Erthazus
03/05/10, 10:48 pm

@3 2014 maybe at best.

Phoenixblight
03/05/10, 11:02 pm

Not sure about that its just Starcraft with more units and instead of 15 years of outdated graphics its now 7 years.

Erthazus
03/05/10, 11:09 pm

@5 Well, i agree with that. Maybe i was a little bit too excited, hyped, pumped like an idiot (Yes, Marketing campaign worked on me very well.). But yes, outdated graphics, only 40% more units for 12 years of development kinda lame.

But singleplayer campaign will be brilliant, story will be brilliant, gameplay will be great and multiplayer will be amazing like in the first Starcraft. Yes, outdated, but quality will be there.

Yeah, i agree with your statement, can’t say more.

onlineatron
03/05/10, 11:11 pm

I want the game that’s an RPG with the top downs and monk things in them please

loki
03/05/10, 11:20 pm

boring

Phoenixblight
03/05/10, 11:22 pm

I am also excited I am curious what happened to my Queen of Blades. Mmmm Kerrigan.

I really want to play the Zerg story more than the Terran.

#10

Erthazus
03/05/10, 11:32 pm

@8 go fuck yourself.

@9 i’m more excited about Zerg and Protoss hybrid thing that we will see in Starcraft II story. Thats going to be massive. If you finished Starcraft: Brood War secret Protoss mission you know what is going to happen