StarCraft II delayed until 2010

Following the ominous silence around the StarCraft II beta, which was expected in July but failed to appear, we all suspected that StarCraft II might not see the light of day this year  and Blizzard has confirmed that it’s long awaited RTS sequel will be delayed until sometime in 2010. The games publisher Activision Blizzard, announced the delay during an investor’s earnings report yesterday.

According to Blizzard, the decision for the delay was based in their desire to release the first part of the StarCraft II trilogy, StarCraft: Wings of Liberty, alongside their newly re-vamped Battle.net networking service. “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,” said Blizzard in a follow up statement. “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.”

It’s hardly surprising that Blizzard has put such an emphasis on getting Battle.net running before releasing StarCraft II, as it forms the lynch-pin of their anti-piracy measures for the game. Fear of  rampant PC piracy is also part of the reasoning behind the decision to have StarCraft II ship without local area network play (LAN) forcing all players to connect through Battle.net- much to the chagrin of some of the StarCraft community.

Beyond those concerns Blizzard claims, the delay will give them further time to ensure StarCraft II, which has been in development since 2003, will ship with the standard of quality they require.

“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,” said Blizzard. “ 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.”

Blizzard promised to share more details about the beta, Battle.net, and StarCraft II’s launch “in the future.”