StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

[Legion]

Today we announced that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will not be ready for release by the end of 2009. Over the past couple of weeks, it has become clear that it will take longer than expected to prepare the new Battle.net for the launch of the game. The upgraded Battle.net is an integral part of the StarCraft II experience and will be an essential part of all of our games moving forward. This extra development time will be critical to help us realize our vision for the service.

Our mission is to develop games that deliver an epic entertainment experience. As part of that commitment, we will always take as much time as needed to ensure that our games and services meet the expectations of our players and the standard for quality that we set for ourselves as developers. As we work to make Battle.net the premier online gaming destination, we’ll also continue to polish and refine StarCraft II, and we look forward to delivering a real-time strategy gaming experience worthy of the series’ legacy in the first half of 2010.

We will share more details about the beta, Battle.net, and StarCraft II’s launch in the future. Keep an eye on the official website at http://www.starcraft2.com for updates, and as always, thank you for your continued enthusiasm and support for StarCraft II and all of Blizzard Entertainment’s games.

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=19110062236&sid=3000

Fantastic, Blizzard.

Did anyone seriously expect it to be released end 2009?  Starcraft 2 has been in development hell for ages.  A videogame sequel being released 10 years after the original is cool, "10 years" has a nice ring to it.  But we're heading for 15 years now.

[AA7Dragoon]

It's a game, Blizzard.  Not the Sistine Chapel

[thebrowncloud]

It's a game, Blizzard.  Not the Sistine Chapel

From the way the post sounds, it seems that WoL is either done or close to done, so bnet 2.0 is really all we're waiting for. I can understand that they would want to take more time to perfect it considering the old version is so outdated and steam has kinda taken the spotlight for online interphase.

And perhaps they do think it's the Sistine Chapel... Who knows? 

[IskatuMesk]

their set on their

Also, giving that the beta has not yet in fact been coming out in the summer like they said it would, it seems their schedule got a bit fucked up as if they had the beta right now, it'd last several months and they wouldn't have the time to process/polish between that and release.

Oh well.

[Marco]

A tiny bit disappointed but otherwise ok.  I was hoping that with the upcoming beta that the release was imminent.  Although another delay is acceptable, given the scope of what they are promising.  Despite all the whining, most people will be the happiest people in the world when it releases.

[Rocco]

It wasn't unexpected, but maybe it would be a bit less dissapointing if they actually gave us some minor updates besides the Karune questions, all their site news consists of is WoW patches and fan art.

[Maglok]

Bit dissapointed. Shame really.

[UntamedLoli]

Its perfectly expected seeing how they are still randomly having auth issues with WoW's battle.net login and the last that was mentioned about beta was that it wasn't ready to handle the load yet, they know more than anyone else that beta tests need to be done right.

[Thalraxal]

I'm really not surprised by this delay.  I'll choose to look on the bright side: I now have more time to finish my campaigns for SC1!

[RazorclawX]

Its perfectly expected seeing how they are still randomly having auth issues with WoW's battle.net login and the last that was mentioned about beta was that it wasn't ready to handle the load yet, they know more than anyone else that beta tests need to be done right.

Some people need to brush up on the Evil Overlord list:

Nobody conquered the world using a beta version.

[Hercanic]

I've got so many unplayed and uncompleted games in my library, a delay on one of them is far from a concern. I'd rather wait and be treated to a polished diamond than be slapped premature with the shitbrick it was in.

[Legion]

I've got so many unplayed and uncompleted games in my library, a delay on one of them is far from a concern. I'd rather wait and be treated to a polished diamond than be slapped premature with the shitbrick it was in.

I know, man.  But being a simply person, I only think: "You started production after Wc3 was finished?  It's been, what, 2 years since you announced it to the public... You haven't got it right yet?"

[Maglok]

I've got so many unplayed and uncompleted games in my library, a delay on one of them is far from a concern. I'd rather wait and be treated to a polished diamond than be slapped premature with the shitbrick it was in.

Of course, but that doesn't mean I can't want the polished slab right now.

[thebrowncloud]

True, but the development team consists of only 40 people, so you can't really expect that much from them quickly. If a crappy game company like EA made it, they would have hundreds and it would be done in 1 year. However, it seems battle.net 2.0 is the problem, not WoL, and I have no idea how many people are working on that or when they started it, so it could very well be only a little over a year into development on that.  :-\

[Lavarinth]

True, but the development team consists of only 40 people

Proof? I've walked through the development team's office.