A report from Korean outlet MTN (spotted by VG247) marks the end of a rights battle between Nexon and Blizzard, seemingly resulting in Nexon, not Blizzard, leading development on the next major entry in the StarCraft series.
Blizzard will be working alongside Nexon to create this new StarCraft game, which could potentially be something besides a new RTS game, if Nexon really wanted to shake things up, that is. RTS games are incredibly popular in Korea, as is the StarCraft series. Moving away from the genre is a huge gamble, since the players who are looking for something to follow up 2013's Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm are probably looking for another RTS game, not a different game set in the StarCraft world.
Nexon didn't just win the ability to make a new StarCraft game in its rights battle though, it also won the opportunity to make a mobile version of Overwatch for Japan and Korea, which has immense potential considering the popularity of mobile games in Asia.
In both cases, this amounts to a big loss for Blizzard, with Nexon now having the keys to what could be a very lucrative castle that Blizzard has arguably fumbled. Of course, we're still a while away from seeing if Nexon will be able to capitalize on its chance here properly, but the potential is still undeniable at this stage.
Especially if Nexon does come out with a StarCraft game that shows how Blizzard's behind in the genre. That both companies collaborated on the game won't matter to players if Nexon can demonstrate that it was their influence that helped make the next game a success, should it be a success, that is.
It's unfortunate for Blizzard that its track record of late has been other studios showing that they can take something Blizzard did and do it better. It arguably happened with Overwatch and how hero shooters have evolved since then. Many would argue that's what Path of Exile has done with Diablo, and Nexon coming in to do the same with StarCraft would be the next nail in the coffin.
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