The long-dormant StarCraft shooter may finally be clawing its way back into existence.

According to a new report out of Korea, Blizzard has signed a cooperation agreement with Nexon to develop a new project based on the StarCraft IP. The story, published by Korean outlet dnews and later circulated on ResetEra, claims that Nexon entered into a “content development” partnership with Blizzard last year specifically tied to the StarCraft brand.

While official details remain nonexistent, multiple industry sources cited in the report suggest Nexon has established a dedicated internal team for the project. More notably, the team is reportedly housed within Nexon’s shooting division a detail that heavily implies the game will take the form of a shooter.

If accurate, this would mark Blizzard’s third attempt to bring StarCraft into the first-person space.

StarCraft Ghost remains one of Blizzard’s most famous cancellations. Announced in the early 2000s, the stealth-focused shooter starring Nova was publicly scrapped nearly 20 years ago. Since then, rumors have swirled about internal prototypes and abandoned efforts to reinterpret the sci-fi RTS as an action experience.

In 2019, reports surfaced of another cancelled project codenamed “Ares,” described as a Battlefield-style shooter set in the StarCraft universe. That project never reached public announcement before it was shelved.

More recently, respected journalist Jason Schreier stated plainly in an interview with IGN: “They are working on a StarCraft shooter. StarCraft is not dead at Blizzard.” Schreier also noted that former Far Cry executive producer Dan Hay was leading the effort internally.

Now, this new report adds an external dimension suggesting Blizzard may be collaborating rather than building entirely in-house.

A BlizzCon Reveal Incoming?

Earlier this year, whispers circulated that Blizzard was preparing some form of StarCraft-related announcement for BlizzCon in September. If a shooter is indeed in development and if Nexon is involved BlizzCon would be a logical stage for a formal reveal.

The timing would also align with Blizzard’s broader push to reinvigorate legacy franchises.

If this project is real, it faces a unique challenge.

Blizzard already operates a futuristic team-based shooter in Overwatch. Any StarCraft shooter would need to carve out its own identity without cannibalizing Blizzard’s existing audience. StarCraft’s universe, however, offers plenty of room to differentiate gritty Terran military combat, Zerg swarm horror elements, Protoss high-tech warfare, and potentially large-scale combined-arms battles.

Multiplayer seems almost inevitable. Blizzard’s design philosophy has long centered around shared experiences, and a purely single-player StarCraft shooter feels unlikely in today’s market. The real intrigue lies in format: Is this a squad-based tactical shooter? A Battlefield-style war simulator? A co-op PvE experience? Or something entirely new?

At this stage, answers are speculative at best.

But one thing is clear: StarCraft, despite years of relative silence, refuses to fade away. If Nexon and Blizzard are indeed joining forces, the franchise may finally get the shooter adaptation it’s been chasing for two decades.

For now, it remains a report but one that feels louder than most.