There is less and less time left until BlizzCon 2026, and Blizzard has already begun to stir up interest in upcoming announcements. Recently, the StarCraft Remastered website began to glitch, which fans took as a hint of a major announcement for the sci-fi series.
In addition to rumors about a new shooter in the StarCraft universe, information has also emerged about the studio’s return to the real-time strategy genre.
According to Jez Corden of Windows Centralthe Canadian studio Blackbird Interactive is co-developing a real-time strategy game with Blizzard. We are talking about the team responsible for Homeworld 3 and Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak.
Collaboration between the studios is not new; Blackbird previously helped with Warcraft Remastered, which was released in 2024 and included updated versions of the original Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness.
What exactly the studios are doing is still unclear. This could be either a completely new strategy, or another remaster or remake, including a new attempt to correct the situation with Warcraft 3: Reforged or the release of additional content for it. Corden reports that Blizzard is considering returning Warcraft to its strategic roots, and the name Warcraft Chronicles has surfaced online.
Separately mentioned is the internal development of Blizzard under the code name Camelot, which may also belong to the strategy genre. Given that Warcraft Remastered is relatively new, the involvement of Blackbird Interactive hints at a more ambitious goal, even a full-fledged remake of the classic game that started the fantasy franchise.
Another scenario being discussed among fans is one related to the expansion of StarCraft 2. We are talking about the transition of the strategy to a support model similar to Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition, which has regularly received additions with new factions since its release in 2019.
The StarCraft series itself has received little attention in recent years, aside from the presence of characters in Heroes of the Storm, and rumors of a third-person shooter indicate Blizzard’s desire to explore the universe more actively.
The history of Warcraft began in 1994 with Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, and the series gained cult status among fans of the genre after Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness in 1995. The real breakthrough came with the release of Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos in 2002 and The Frozen Throne expansion a year later, where a long single-player campaign told a large-scale story across several factions.
After The Frozen Throne, the franchise’s narrative finally moved to World of Warcraft, where the main storylines were closed with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion in 2008.
An attempt to return the series to its strategic roots resulted in the failure of Warcraft 3: Reforged in 2020, which was criticized for a number of reasons.
