Four leading South Korean companies – NCSoft, Nexon, Netmarble and Krafton – are competing for the right to develop the next game in the StarCraft series. Several of them even visited Blizzard’s headquarters in California, Asia Today reports.
All four companies are vying for a deal that would allow them to develop new games in the StarCraft series and obtain global publishing rights to the franchise. Both RTS and shooter games are under discussion. The deal is expected to significantly impact the global market penetration and value of Korean game companies.
NCSoft has extensive experience in MMORPG development, having created games such as Lineage 2 and Aion. The second contender, Nexon, is known for its diverse portfolio, which includes MapleStory, Sudden Attack, Dungeon & Fighter, and others. The third contender is mobile game developer Netmarble. And, finally, Krafton, which has released games such as PUBG: Battlegrounds, The Callisto Protocol, and others. By the way, the latter commented on this news, but did not confirm the media information.
StarCraft is a cult real-time strategy series from Blizzard Entertainment. The first part was released in 1998 and over the past two decades has gained immense popularity among players around the world, but the series has gained the most sales and players in South Korea. The second part was released in 2010 and it consolidated the success of the franchise, becoming a popular esports discipline.
The latest project in the series is a remaster of the first part of StarCraft, which was released in 2017. Since then, there has been no news about new games in the franchise, but with the beginning of an active fight for the rights to the series, this may change in the near future.