BlizzCon 2026 delivered a run of major announcements, headlined by a new shooter set in the StarCraft universe. Confirmed after months of rumour, the game carries the simple title StarCraft and marks the first significant news from the series in a decade, since the release of StarCraft 2’s Nova Covert Ops campaign pack.
The reveal came via a brief teaser depicting the rise and abrupt fall of an elite soldier. Full gameplay was not shown, but the return of the franchise drew a strong reaction inside the main hall. The shooter is planned for a 2030 launch, two decades on from the release of StarCraft 2.
Diablo 5 announced with a Netflix series to follow
Blizzard Entertainment also confirmed Diablo 5 during the opening ceremony, revealed through a short teaser. Set in 2029, the story sees Sanctuary fall, with players fighting to reclaim it. Marking the series’ 30th anniversary, the studio described the game as taking players deeper into the darkness than before, showing what happens when the Lord of Terror finally takes over the world. Developers said the game will explore what you must become to save a world that has already fallen.
The announcement arrives earlier than expected, given that the previous two Diablo titles each spent roughly a decade in development. Diablo 4, which released its Lord of Hatred expansion earlier this spring, still has more content planned. The Amazon class, a returning favourite from Diablo 2, will arrive next year through a class pack rather than a full expansion, giving players access to the Skovos isles.
Blizzard chief executive Johanna Faries confirmed that an animated Diablo series is heading to Netflix, and hinted at further plans for other franchises in the future.
World of Warcraft Forever launches in November
The rumoured “Classic plus” project has been confirmed as World of Warcraft Forever. The release will channel new content to players while preserving the feel and level cap of vanilla WoW. It adds three new zones, overhauls several existing zones, and introduces 1,000 new quests, nine new dungeons, two new raids and a new Skyborne race.
The beta for WoW Forever opens on Thursday 17 September, with a full launch set for 4 November, less than two months later.
In current World of Warcraft, the latest expansion, Midnight, is entering the next phase of its story, shown through a new cinematic. A tease for the following expansion, The Last Titan, confirmed it will conclude the Worldsoul trilogy that began with 2024’s The War Within.
Blizzard is also releasing a 3.0 update to Warcraft 3: Reforged, the remaster of the classic real-time strategy game.
