StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm due March 12
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
[UPDATE] Battle.net listing indicates Blizzard's upcoming expansion arriving early next year; Digital Deluxe Version revealed; release date confirmed.
[UPDATE] Following the publication of this story, Blizzard Entertainment confirmed StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm will launch March 12, 2013 at $40. The company also revealed a Collector's Edition that will include a behind-the-scenes DVD and Blu-ray disc, a soundtrack CD, a 144-page art book, and a Zerg Rush mousepad. A price for the premium bundle was not announced.
The original story follows below.
Last week, Activision said StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm would release during the first half of 2013. Now, the company has provided an exact release date. Eurogamer Spain found a product listing page at Battle.net for Heart of the Swarm that shows a March 12, 2013 release date. The site reports that an official announcement is scheduled for later today.
In addition to revealing the release date for Heart of the Swarm, another page on Battle.net reveals a Digital Deluxe Version of the game. This premium iteration will include a digital copy of the expansion, as well as the following in-game items for StarCraft II, World of Warcraft, and Diablo III:
Three StarCraft II Swarm-themed Battle.net portraits.
StarCraft II Zerg Ultralisk "Torrasque" skin.
World of Warcraft Baneling Battle Pet.
Diablo III "Blade Wings" item – Queen of Blades-styled wings for Diablo III heroes.
Diablo III Zerg banner sigil.
Heart of the Swarm is the second installment in the Starcraft II three-part series. It will follow 2010's Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty and precede the final entry, Legacy of the Void.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
56 comments
I've been waiting so long for this over-priced, stand-alone expansion that I'd almost forgot I was waiting. Does anyone still care?
2 Like Who cares if the game is split up into 3 parts. i think with the amount of game play i got from WoL that if the other 2 Starcraft games have just as much as WoL it will be well worth the wait.
Dont complain u know ull still buy it
I love the Zerg in Starcraft, but don't care much for the other two teams. Do I have to buy the first installment, or can i buy Heart of the Swarm by itself?
@Scorch_22 From Blizz website:
Will Heart of the Swarm require ownership of Wings of Liberty?
For the regions that have a standard box business model such as North America and Europe, yes, Wings of Liberty will be required in order to play Heart of the Swarm. For other regions that have alternative access models, we?ll provide details at a later date.
http://eu.battle.net/sc2/en/game/heart-of-the-swarm-preview/faq#q6
1 Like Yay cant wait for this! I will be getting the collectors edition of this to go with my Wings of Liberty collectors edition :)
1 Like I remember people clammering in the Starcaft II forums for them to include a Zergling plushie in the HotS CE.
2 Like I still have all my original manuals/books from the warcraft 2 days. Remember how blizzard always went the extra mile, and included basically a mini novel with their games? Like warcraft 2/3 starcraft and diablo did? man i miss those. I loved the back story to SC so much.. but hey, i did get a nifty starcraft 2 notepad with a jimmy raynor watermark on it.. much better... indeed.. I guess that was their way of telling us if we still want the awesome story, youll just have to "do it the !@#$ yourself" :D
1 Like they started SC2 in 2003... The final part of SC2 wont come out until EARLIEST 2016-2017.. THIRTEEN TO FOURTEEN YEARS!! WTF IS THIS? If they finished the MAIN GAME(starcraft 2) then decided to split it into three games, what is taking 2 1/2 years to finish?? You're telling me it took blizzard 2 1/2 years to come up with story? missions? WTF blizzard, and WTF blizzard fans... They did this, to keep their "yearly" and "quarterly" profits up, and they know they can guarantee income, at the expense of purposely making fans wait an extra 5-7 years to FINISH THEIR F!@#ING GAME.
=-=-=
But hey blizz-hards are the most fanatical and loyal, so im sure ill get attacked, hey at least there isn't a thumbs down anymore i guess. ;)
@dRuGGeRnaUt To a certain extent they may have needed as much time as possible to make Starcraft 2 as best as it could be... We all know Blizzard's obsession with trying to make perfect games... Even so, I totally agree with you that it's kind of ridiculous to spend 14 years to release a sequel. I mean, back in the 90s Blizzard was moving at the speed of light compared to how they are moving today. If I remember correctly, Starcraft 1 didn't take more than 2 years to make. Warcraft 2 about a year... Diablo 1 about 1-2 years. And Blizzard was a very small company back then. Also, with regards to splitting Starcraft 2 into 3 parts, it was entirely a business move. Everyone knows this, including Blizzard. But we all have the impulse to deny this because we're still living in a fairy tale where Blizzard is the same company they were more than a decade ago.
@dRuGGeRnaUt If you don't want to get attacked try to disagree more respectfully. It's not really your opinion and more how you say it. Granted you didnt simply go "Fck blizz", but still. And yes i do think creating the new story(1 year or more?), balancing the multi player(in progress), adding new feature and updating the UI and there u have 1.5-2 yrs so that really is only another 6 blizzard months, not too terrible.
They won't meet that date. Don't fool yourselves. Sorry, Blizzard. The world needs to move on without this nonsense.
Had so much fun with this game playing single player. But man, I suck hard with the multiplayer so I'll probably won't buy it.
And people were complaining way back when Wings of Liberty was released that Heart of the Swarm would be $60. Guess what people! Its only $40.
@wavelength121 @BlizzardFan2009 Depends what you are looking for and how you see it. Right now i'm at 60$ for 2.5 years. Now for the sake of argument let's say the 3rd expansion comes out at 2017. And add only 3 years after that untill people stop playing the multiplayer (Mind you they played sc1 for 10 years after the final expansion and only stopped because of sc2) So now i'm at 140$ over 10 years and countless hours of play time. I'm really curious how often you get so much out of a game.
1 Like @BlizzardFan2009 Yeah and like I said, it would take more than 2 years to see it.. And BLAM. WoL: July 27/2010. HoS: March 2013. That means EARLIEST we see the final part of SC2 will be mid 2016-2017.. HAHAHAHAHA. The moment they split sc2 into 3 games i knew this would happen!! I really wish they just made the game like usual(with all 3 races) to start, then add expansions... They did a really good job of SC2 (at least the single player additions and stuff) but waiting THIS LONG to finish ONE GAME is stupid. Blizzard really needs to see its not what it used to be.
1 Like It should be a little less for those who already have the original game imo, at least, it's not full price.
2 Like So Legacy of the Void will come out in 2016, then. Wonder if Starcraft 2's gameplay will seem outdated by then, compared to other RTS games; seems weird to release expansions so long after the base game. It's good when a developer avoids rushing a game's development, but Blizzard, like Valve, often seems to take waaaaay too long to release things.
the gameplay wont be outdated. since this gameplay is actually from 1998. the visuals will be heavily outdated. 3 years for an exp is way too long. i know of games that are developed in less than an year.
@game_gt3 @Spartan_418 This will end up being blizzards fall. (if thats even possible, given the "cultofblizz" in the gaming world). But seriously, Blizz is/was my favourite game makers BAR NONE. One thing after the other.. Yknow stuff like, Loving a game sooo much (starcraft), buying when i was 15. And then waiting until i was 36 to actually finish the F!@#ing game. awesome = awesome
@Spartan_418 I doubt it will feel outdated, besides not many good RTS's coming out any time soon. Tryst for example. Starcraft 2 will still be the best RTS even in 2016.
Company of Heroes 2 might be the only RTS around that could compete with SC2, but it's a big if.
What happened to shutting down Blizzcon so hey could churn Diablo, MoP, and HotS all out by the end of 2012? I wish they would have released swarm already and held Diablo to work on it more. Though to be fair to Diablo fans, they have had to wait the longest. Guess the right thing to do would have been release Diablo, HotS, then MoP. Especially since the gap between Cata and MoP was the shortest yet.
The primary reason Blizzard gave this morning for announcing its decision not to host a Blizzcon fan gathering this year was that the company is "heavily focused on getting Diablo III, [World of Warcraft's] Mists of Pandaria, and [Starcraft II's] Heart of the Swarm into players' hands as soon as possible." (cited http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/01/blizzcon-2012-canceledbut-why/)
@joshua2415_8887 OK, I withdraw my comment ;), i wasn't sure if that was the reason or just lack of content
Great! So we can expect Legacy of the Void to arrive in 2016? Good to know you guys are fast-tracking this so efficiently.
About time, blizzard really needs to speed up their release schedule, one can say more dev time is good if it produces a better game, but after Diablo 3, I no longer buy that argument.
meh i was looking forward to this
but the long wait plus the rumors about limited free to play and leveling system makes me care less and less
@beuneus12 WoL has a limited Free to Play plus from what I have seen they are just using the levels for matchmaking and for in game items. So a level 1 wont be up against a level 25. But the level 1 wont have the portraits/icons that the level 22 does. So not much will change just how things are rewarded in game.
and there's supposed to be more expansions lol well i guess i get the strategy. I mean SC2 worldwide probably has the best staying power of any game besides WOW another blizz game. I mean i why force yourself into a COD like cycle when you can make one game and have it bring in a steady stream of money for 4 5 maybe more years. It's very practical when a country(korea) has basically made it a past time and wordwide it continues to be a top esport game years after releasing. minimal effort maximum profit.
1 Like i do love the game blizz but man this time you took way too long with this expansion. You said around 17-18 months and itll be like 30 months.
Im excited for the campaign but i really hope you add some units to Terran since you took out the warhound. One new unit and a spider mine isnt enough and im not even a terran player but lets go Blizz. almost 3 years i hope you do more for the Multiplayer than you have
It is crazy that is is going to be released in March and tournaments have been using this game for awhile. Can't wait to get it!
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