14 DAY TRIAL // We now know that, after a long wait and quite a bit of a multiplayer beta phase, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will be arriving pretty much worldwide on July 27. The Blizzard made real time strategy game comes ten years after the original and seems to keep pretty much the same core mechanics while introducing new units and tactics for both the single player element and the multiplayer matches.
Doug Creutz, who is an analyst of the videogames industry for the Cowen Group, believes StarCraft II might go on to sell more than 5 million copies around the world in the first year of availability. He said, “The original StarCraft has sold roughly 10 million units worldwide since its launch 10 years ago. We believe the Chinese online launch with distribution partner NetEase will most likely be in 2011.”
Blizzard is doing something pretty unusual by launching the game at the same time in North America, Europe and South Korea, ensuring the biggest possible impact for the release. The developer also stated that it planned to offer a digitally distributed version of its new title shortly after reaching stores.
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will focus on the Terran faction in the single player campaign, which will be made up of 29 missions. Jim Raynor and his battlecruiser will be at the forefront of the fight and Blizzard is saying that each mission will be engaging in its own right, with little of the build a base and rush mechanics of the original. StarCraft II will also include missions specifically designed to allow those focused on the single player to acquire the skills they need in order to be competitive in multiplayer.
Alongside the launch of StarCraft II, Blizzard will also release the new Battle.net service that offers better matchmaking, achievements for players, tracking of gameplay-oriented stats and the possibility to store save games on Blizzard servers.