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Blizzard has announced that the hugely anticipated sequel to the 1998 classic, Starcraft, will not make it to retail shelves before the end of the year as was previously planned.

The publisher has told the press that the reason that gamers will not be getting their hands on Starcraft II before Christmas has little to do with the game itself, but is due to the fact that the new Battle.net build is taking a bit longer than expected. Battle.net is Blizzard’s online service, and it will be the only legitimate way for players to enjoy the game’s multiplayer component since it was announced that the game would have no LAN component.

The game will now be released in the first half of 2010. Blizzard has stated that it will use the extra time to “polish Starcraft II”.

"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," said Blizzard.

They go on to say "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."

The delay is hardly surprising, as many onlookers, including MyGaming were beginning to question whether Blizzard would be able to get the game out before the end of the year. Blizzard stated earlier this year that it planned to run the Starcraft II beta for about 6 months. With less than 6 months left in the year and no beta program in sight, a 2009 Starcraft II release began looking unlikely a few months ago.

Blizzard also mentioned that the delay will not affect any of Blizzard’s other planned releases, such as Diablo III. This confirms that Diablo III will not be out this year as it will also require Battle.net.  

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