StarCraft II expansion confirmed for 2015 launch

StarCraft II’s Protoss injection is coming this year.

Activision Blizzard announced during its earnings call today that StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void, the next standalone expansion in its sci-fi real-time strategy series, will release in 2015.

That launch confirmation was enough for Activision Blizzard, the largest U.S. game publisher, to add 10 cents a share to its expectations for profit in 2015, resulting in a new estimate of $1.30 a share in net income for the year, instead of $1.20 a share.

The company’s Blizzard Entertainment division is hard at work on StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void, the third and final installment in the epic StarCraft II real-time strategy sci-fi series. It’s been a long wait. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, the first title in the StarCraft II series, came out in 2010, and its first expansion, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, debuted in 2013.

The single-player campaign focuses on Protoss leader Zeratul and his struggle to unite the alien race against an ancient enemy. But the tale also wraps up the story of Jim Raynor and Sarah Kerrigan, who became the Queen of Blades.

To whet appetites for the new game, Blizzard is releasing a prologue entitled “Whispers of Oblivion.” It has three free missions. These tie together the plots of Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void.

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.