In the decade since it launched, StarCraft 2 has become the RTS scene. It's just not had much competition. The RTS genre is in dire straits, but StarCraft seems to exist in a bubble where people still want to gobble up resources and fling little units at each other. Blizzard's been able to build a successful esport around it and churn out the updates for years, but things are finally winding down.
Blizzard has announced that development on new bits and bobs like war chests and commanders has ceased. It will continued to be supported with balance fixes and season rolls, but there won't be anything new to buy.
"We’re going to continue supporting StarCraft II in the same manner as we have with our previous longstanding games, such as Brood War, focusing primarily on what our core and competitive communities care about most," says executive producer Rob Bridenbecker.
Blizzard released a balance patch a few months ago, so it's not planning to release another this year, though it will "continue doing them as needed in the future."
Naturally, this isn't really the end of one of Blizzard's biggest series. The change will apparently free up the team to consider what's next, both for StarCraft 2 and the StarCraft universe. Bridenbecker calls StarCraft "core to Blizzard". And just look how long its been actively developed compared to, say, Heroes of the Storm, which Blizzard started scaling back in 2018, only a few years after launch.
- Starcraft 2 cheats and easter eggs: Unlock all the secrets
