SCII: Heart of the Swarm due after 2011

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 23 October, 2010

Probably.

Blizzard will not release the second game in the StarCraft II trilogy, Heat of the Swarm, until after 2011 – probably.

That's according to lead producer Chris Sigaty, who offered the titbit during a story question and answer panel at BlizzCon, reported by IGN,

Sigaty's comments tally with those of Battle.net project director Greg Canessa, who hinted earlier this month that Heart of the Swarm was scheduled for release in early 2012.

The release window is roughly consistent with the two-year gaps between World of Warcraft expansions, so it seems credible.

Heart of the Swarm delivers the zerg campaign – the second of three campaigns that make up the entire SCII experience. The first, Wings of Liberty, released in July to critical and commercial acclaim.

Yesterday Blizzard announced the addition of two new high-level leagues to the StarCraft II multiplayer ladder system, introducing seasons, and adding an option to view featured replays of top matches.

The PC game creator also showed four internally-developed mods for StarCraft II, all of which it will be releasing for free download: Blizzard DOTA, StarJeweled, Left 2 Die and Aiur Chef.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (13) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Gaiduku #1 2 years ago

    I'm assuming this will be cheaper than Wings of Liberty....or at least sold in several packages. I know it's far too early to have this information but I'm guessing it will be released as a campaign only expansion that requires you to have WOL for say.... £15 and also as a full game with the multiplayer component included for the price of WOL.

  • Joedeg #2 2 years ago

    I guarantee it will be a full price game -- especially after a 2 year wait. And they'll trot out the same argument that the campaign is longer than the original starcraft yadda yadda ugh.
    Edited by Joedeg at 24/10/10 @ 04:09

  • Lukree #3 2 years ago

    If quality will be the same as with SCII it can cost anything and I will pay the price happily, I tell you. I am now playing the campaing third time and it really is one interstellar experience. Would still like the expansion to come out sooner...

  • Canyarion #4 2 years ago

    @Gaiduku Remember they're also adding to the multiplayer (2 units per race), so you're not just getting it for the campaign.

    I also hope it will be expansion-priced, but I fear it won't be. But I guess they might have some package with WoL and HotS for a reduced price.

  • HalMeeka #5 2 years ago

    Don't care what price it is to be honest, I think they will follow the Warcraft model, in that if you want to use the new units you need the expansion but without the expansion you will be able to play against people with the expansion. Just you won't have the new units.


    Not gonna happen. This is against Blizz's principle of fair play. You will never gain advantege over your opponent with your money in a Blizz game.
    Exactly like in WC3, which you can only play with people without expansion, if you don't have expansion.
    Edited by HalMeeka at 24/10/10 @ 10:29

  • zoweewowee #6 2 years ago

    People who play multiplayer won't care about the price, think about Starcraft's playtime/price ratio…

  • damoxuk #7 2 years ago

    Well it's not really technically an Expansion per se. It's more the 2nd PART of a trilogy.

    Which basically means it'll be on par with Wings of Liberty in terms of missions/story/cutscenes therby almost guaranteeing full price release. Which again like people here say is still cheaper than console games. And is a hell of a lot better than most.

    But does this mean Diablo 3 is out 2011? I hope so :D

  • CouldntResist #8 2 years ago

    Full price for the campaign might be a hard sell.

    Full price for regular mp players is a different matter entirely. I can guarantee you that people, myself included, will be happy to pay ~£30 for more units. I remember when Brood War came out for SC1. I think they introduced 2-3 units for each race. You might think that number is trivial, but with how finely balanced SC is, it changed the gameplay completely and for the better.

  • hiddenranbir #9 2 years ago

    Given the production values of the single player campaign (it was of a high quality and lengthy) I can see the same happening for this.

  • MistaGav #10 2 years ago

    It wouldn't surprise me if it takes this long as for starters it is Blizzard and they like to release it when it's done. Not to mention the amount of balancing they will do to introduce new units along with all the other stuff...should be good!

  • Spekingur #11 2 years ago

    This will cost close to what SC2 cost at the time of release. Maybe 10USD less at most.

    This news also fits with the "2 year plan" theory. I wonder what they will do with Diablo 3? :-P

  • metroid455 #12 2 years ago

    haha im not much of a pc gamer anymore but honestly i feel for you guys, after more than a decade it looks like Blizzard still wants everyone to jump through hoops for a series that was once great, SCII is only a shadow of the excellance that is the original +brood war

  • Der_tolle_Emil #13 2 years ago

    I'd pay full price for that. The SC2 Campaign was brilliant and quite lengthy as well (plus interesting enough to play through more than once) so if the Zerg Campaign has the same quality then full price is justified. Just because it uses the same engine does not mean it's the same game over again.