StarCraft II is a sequel to the popular real-time strategy game StarCraft. It was announced on
May 19, 2007, at
the Blizzard Worldwide
Invitational in Seoul, South Korea. StarCraft II is being developed for concurrent release on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Mac OS X. It has been stated that development on the game began in 2003, shortly after Warcraft III: The
Frozen Throne was released. Blizzard has not announced a release date, but they have stated that it will not be released in 2007. The game development is in the pre-alpha stages and is "very far along" and can be played in multiplayer mode with all three races.
StarCraft II will feature the three races of the original game — Protoss,
Terran, and Zerg. It has been announced that these will be the only races in the game. In addition, the replay function has been greatly improved. Blizzard is also planning to broadcast StarCraft II multiplayer matches in North America.
According to its creators, StarCraft II is designed to be the "ultimate competitive real-time strategy game", and as such, it focuses more heavily on the multiplayer aspect when compared to the original StarCraft. The changes includes overall improvements in Battle.net, new matchmaking mechanics, and a new ladder system.
