Early summer release???

I was thinking we could have a start of summer release of SC2...

 

Judging from everything we've heard so far (3 month beta, early 2010 release, etc) that sounds about right.

 

We could but we couldn't.

 

I think it will more likely be at the beginning of Fall, but maybe it will be early Summer. The beta client seems good enough for release to me.

 

I agree. But just good enough is really not good enough. That's why Blizzard is doing the beta. it needs to be the best possible thing they can do within the timeframe thay have. Most games are just good enough. But Blizzard games on the whole are that much better and need a beta to fix everything up.

 

agreed. early summer is probably on the optimistic side

 

If it gets an early summer release then I think that its safe to say Hell really did freeze over. If we look back at WC3 and every other Blizzard game to date, a beta usually means a good 6 month wait. Judging by all of the patching thats already going on now though, maybe we could see something sooner. But a Blizzard game out on time? Thats just a good laugh waiting to happen.

 

re

That would be nice but I think fall is more likely.

 

I read somewhere on the forum that Blizzard were on track for a USA summer release.

But I can't find where that topic is anymore. It was in the one with all the random questions people asked were answered by blizzard.

 

It HAS, completely HAS to come out in summer, otherwise their entire release schedule wll be screwed

why?

Cataclysm - you cant launch SC2 and a WoW xpansion in the same season and expect to get optimal sales, they'll end up hurting each other and Blizzard will not let that happen.

for a Beta the game is pretty much done, if you really look at it in about 2 months the game could be balanced enough for a release. We have to realize that Blizz doesnt plan on getting the balance to be perfect by release, no game has perfect balance...it's just not rediculously IMbalanced. So yes, SC2 by the end of May is highly likely, unless something like breaks by then terribly

 

Cataclysm is a MMO. StarCraft II is a RTS. Now, I'm not saying that some WoW players won't play SC2. But these two games are very different genres, and they're aimed at completely different consumers. Tell me, given that these titles appeal to two distinct types of gamers, how would they hurt each other in any meaningful way? Isn't that like saying that the next World Cup football game shouldn't be released at the same time as the next iteration of Call Of Duty?

Of course, often a company decides that it's in the game's best interest NOT to be released in an otherwise favourable season. For example, that's exactly why Mass Effect 2, which had been slated for a Christmas '09 release, was pushed into January 2010: the developers thought that its sales would suffer since there were several other AAA titles being released in that time frame. Also bear in mind that Mass Effect 2 has far more in common with, say, Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed than StarCraft II has in common with World of WarCraft. And furthermore, all of SC2's potential competition (namely Supreme Commander 2, Command and Conquer 4, and Dawn of War 2's forthcoming expansion) will have been released prior to SC2's launch. I might be wrong, but I think that releasing Cataclysm and SC2 in the same quarter wouldn't particularly concern Blizzard.

 

So the game is going to be released in 3 parts right? Does anyone know if the release of parts 2 and 3 will act like expansions. Eg. Bringing new units to the game such like Broodwars did.

 

They would hurt each other because for those who play both, they would likely buy just one for a while before buying the other so they can experience all there is before switching games. While they are separate genres, I'm sure many who are looking forward to sc2 also play WoW. So while in the long run any damage to sales would be mostly evened out, at release they both would have less sales during opening weeks than if they were released months apart. This is why Blizzard has never released major games in the same time period, this is actually the first year they will be releasing more than 1.

As for the release date, I'm guessing mid summer since they need to wait til after beta to produce all the game discs and have them shipped off around the world. So it'll be at least 1-2 months after beta is officially over before they could release it with enough supply for the demand.

 

I don't have any statistics either, but I'm pretty certain that the percentage of players who plan on purchasing both is very LOW. I don't think that Blizzard will release the two very closely to each other, if only to show more spread out quarterly revenues to their investors. However, what I was saying is that I believe that Blizzard, should they deem it necessary, might release SC2 in Autumn. In other words, they would release the games in the same quarter --which would be unprecedented for Blizzard, but they're already setting a new precedent by publishing two titles in the same year. So, say they DO release SC2 in September, they might, consequently, push Cataclysm back into early December. Those planning to buy both would have 3 months with StarCraft before Cataclysm released. If Cataclysm really is to be unleashed in Q4 2010, then I can't see StarCraft II hitting shelves later than mid-September. Either way, we are the winners --we'll finally be able to play.

Personally, I anticipate an early summer/summer release. Anything later than August would greatly surprise me, and the investors will grumble. Actually, I suspect that the reduced Beta (from 5 to 3 months) is partly due to the investors who want Blizzard to "release the game already". The investors would also not want Blizzard to release two titles too closely, so there may very well be considerable pressure to release it by this summer.

 

I don't think the percentage of people that play WoW and SC2 is that low. Yes it is very shocking that Blizzard is releasing two games in one year. I think the a possible reason they might considering doing this is because we've all been waiting patiently for them and the game is finally reaching perfection and meeting their standards. I've been to several game and electronic stores and most of them have told me this summer is the official release of SC2. Mainly July, but then again I've some stores such as GameStop tell me that the official release was last year lol. But me personally I think after the beta if Blizzard thinks that SC2 meets their standards that they should release it this summer. But if there are a lot of changes to make then they should wait till the fall to release it. I don't really care how long it takes to do it just so it's perfect and as fun as the original SC and BW.

 

So, yes, some WoW players WILL buy StarCraft, that's a given. But you don't have any statistics, do you? What makes you suspect that there will be many WoW players purchasing SCII? I anticipate that the number who will play both is low because of the disparate genres: WoW is not so much a game as it is a lifestyle; in my personal experience, the 30 or so WoW players that I've known preferred shooters to strategy games, but they mainly played WoW. Of course, that's my personal experience, and doesn't necessarily reflect reality. How many of you here play WoW? I certainly don't: MMOs don't interest me.

 

I'm pretty sure you can find some statistics that are pretty close or at least give you a general idea of the ratio. I never said the number wasn't low. I simply said I don't think it's that low, as in I don't think it's as low as you might think it is. And I certainly do play WoW, not as much as SC though I will admit and SC not as much as FPS. But if your a fan like me you will buy both, I most certainly will.

 

I remember some survey being held where a number of WoW players were asked if they had played a WarCraft RTS and were interested in a WarCraft IV RTS. The majority of them said that they had not played a WarCraft RTS, did not care about WarCraft IV, and just wanted to play the MMO.

I doubt many would care about StarCraft Still, there's enough "Blizzard fans" that they'll want to release the games at least 3 three months apart. I assume Cataclysm is in November or up to January with StarCraft 2 being in the Summer.

 

I have to agree with you there DeckardLee.
But I've played both WC3 and WoW. I like WoW and think WC3 is a big POS. And could not give a stuff about a WC4. But I think a break between the release dates of SC2 and Catclysm is a good idea for the reasons you mentioned.

 

Yeah, I've played WC3 and could give 2 sh*ts about WC4. My main focus is SC2 and then WoW...