As reported by Kotaku earlier this week, Blizzard has finally decided to finish up the Starcraft story arc with their next game, StarCraft II Legacy of the Void. This will effectively bring the current story of Starcraft to an end which started with the original Starcraft launching 17 years ago.
During the interview (which happened at E3 2015) Tim Morten, lead producer on the game was quoted as saying,
This is the resolution of 17 years of story-telling.
Traditionally most Starcraft games end on a cliffhanger, leaving the possibility of a sequel very open. While Tim does not say this is going to be the “LAST STARCRAFT GAME EVER”, he is pretty definite about finally tying up all the loose ends. He goes on to explain.
It’s the end of this story. Could there be arcs that involve [these characters] in the future? Anything’s possible. But we didn’t want to cop out with the ‘to be continued’ – this is a resolution to this story.
Lead story designer Matt Morris had this to say about the next Starcraft game:
This story is super epic. Obviously everyone’s gonna say that about their game, but this one, this one’s got some teeth in it and I think this is something people are gonna remember eight, 10, 20 years from now.
As far as the tone and the vision of the story is concerned, Blizzard say they still are in line with the original idea of Chris Metzen, writer on the first Starcraft game. For the most part, they say, they’re going to hit the same story beats that have been planned for two decades. “The big-picture stuff has been pretty clear—we havent moved off that,” said Morris. “[Although] he journey, getting to the point has changed over time.”
Startcraft has been one of the most iconic games of the video game industry paving the way for bigger and better ones like Warcraft, League Of Legends, and DOTA 2. It is still played heavily in a variety of e-sports tournament. With the end of such an epic timeline finally coming to and end, it only fair that the final DLC be named Legacy Of The Void. There is no release date or even year set on the final game but it’ll all start with a prologue called Whispers of Oblivion—a free three-mission story that bridges Legacy with the last expansion, 2013’s Heart of the Swarm. This prologue will explain what Zeratul has been up to over the past few years, and it’ll be free for everyone. You can get early access if you pre-purchase Legacy—a compelling reason.
All abroad the feels train people. The closure is coming home.
[P.S. Source article: 17 Years Later, StarCraft’s Story Is Finally Coming To An End]