StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm at least 18 months away, says Blizzard

News by Johnny Cullen Contributor

Published on Oct. 8, 2010

If you're up for StarCraft II's next expansion, Heart of the Swarm, you're in for a long wait.

Speaking at GDC Online in Texas, Battle.net project director Craig Canessa said the second part in the StarCraft II arc is at least 18 months out.

Canessa said features for Battle.net such as trading, broadcasting replays and upgrading profiles were "a main area of focus we're going to be seeing on the Starcraft [II] side over the next 18 months between now and Heart of the Swarm."

This puts the expansion at a tentative release at either March or April 2012, which is a lot more specific than Blizzard's estimate for Diablo III, which is within the "next few years," alongside the company's secret MMO.

Still, we'll get a reveal at Blizzcon, yeah? Wrong.

Blizzard told GameSpot the expansion won't be shown in California later this month. Blizzcon runs from October 22-23.

Heart of the Swarm is the Zerg-based part of the StarCraft II story, which follows the Terran-based Wings of Liberty and precedes the Protoss-led Legacy of the Void.