Starcraft 2 delayed for 2010

Blizzard announced yesterday that the release of the much anticipated (understatement) second installment in the Starcraft franchise will be delayed. The justification behind this decision is that it "became clear that it would take longer than expected to prepare the new battle.net".

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.

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.

We will share more details about the beta, Battle.net, and StarCraft II’s launch in the future. Keep an eye on the official website at http://www.starcraft2.com for updates, and as always, thank you for your continued enthusiasm and support for StarCraft II and all of Blizzard Entertainment’s games.

Blizzard remains faithful to the "when it's ready" policy of releases. Compared to other companies that release unpolished/buggy software this is a good thing, but at the same time disappoints the die hard fans that just want to play the game. The new battle.net is essential to the multiplayer aspect of the game. The perfect balance and flawless multiplayer gave starcraft a faithfull following and a, still, very large active community of players around the world for the past 10 years. Blizzards wants to keep it that way with Starcraft 2.