Mass speculation has surrounded StarCraft II's launch date recently, most of which pointed towards a release next year. Sure enough, the news of a delay was confirmed during Activision Blizzard's recent fiscal report.
"Blizzard Entertainment has moved the anticipated release date of StarCraft II to the first half of 2010 to coincide with the relaunch of its upgraded Battle.net online-gaming service," read the Activision Blizzard release.
Delays and Blizzard releases really go hand-in-hand (we're old enough to remember when the original launch of Battle.net delayed the first Diablo) but we're pretty sure fans will be happy with the final product when it finally releases.
Update: a separate Blizzard PR statement explains how integral Battle.net will be to Starcraft II. "Today we announced that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will not be ready for release by the end of 2009. Over the past couple of weeks, it has become clear that it will take longer than expected to prepare the new Battle.net for the launch of the game. The upgraded Battle.net is an integral part of the StarCraft II experience and will be an essential part of all of our games moving forward. This extra development time will be critical to help us realize our vision for the service," reads the statement.
It continues, "Our mission is to develop games that deliver an epic entertainment experience. As part of that commitment, we will always take as much time as needed to ensure that our games and services meet the expectations of our players and the standard for quality that we set for ourselves as developers. As we work to make Battle.net the premier online gaming destination, we’ll also continue to polish and refine StarCraft II, and we look forward to delivering a real-time strategy gaming experience worthy of the series’ legacy in the first half of 2010."
