Blizzard Cans the GC Version of StarCraft Ghost

Blizzard has announced that their long delayed stealth-action game, ‘Starcraft Ghost’, will not be making its way onto the Gamecube. While Blizzard says that the game is still headed for Playstation 2 and Xbox this upcoming spring, ‘Cube owners will not be able to enjoy this potential-hit.

As an owner of all three last generation consoles, I can’t say that this affects me very much (I purchase all my multiplatform games on Xbox anyway). Blizzard was probably right about canning the GameCube version though. Most third party games don’t sell very well on the GC. Many gamers probably saw this move coming.

The thing is, are many people even really anticipating the release of Starcraft Ghost anyway? Blizzard has to realize that the PC and console markets are two different things. While you can delay a PC game for as long as you want and there will still be hype and anticipation for it, this is the console market. It seems a bit late for Blizzard to be releasing such a large profile title for any console this generation. Will anyone actually care by the time it’s released? I mean, come on. Blizzard’s been delaying it since 2002, and when the game was near-finished, they switch developers! With all the hype surrounding the next-generation of consoles and the Xbox 360, Starcraft Ghost might get lost in the shuffle.

The wise thing for Blizzard to do is probably considering pushing the release of StarCraft Ghost to a next-generation system. With all the money on the line and work put into this game already, that would probably be a very wise move.

Of course, if Blizzard actually releases it Spring 06’ and doesn’t delay it again, then it can be a great title for current generation owners who haven’t upgraded to a new system yet to enjoy. Even so, there’s no much of a chance it will be the big hit it could have been if Blizzard would have released it earlier. Of course, you would think more development time equals a better product, right? Well, we all know how Eidos’ Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness turned out, right? Even though Blizzard is a company known for putting more care and effort into their products than most developers, it is possible that they might force Swingin’ Ape Studios (who are the current developers of this long project) to rush the game at the last minute so they can get the product on store shelves in time.

Also, lots of long-delayed games appear to be outdated in the gameplay departments because they were developed during a time where there was a lower standard set. Do I even need to bring up Atlus’ Galleon, which has been delayed since 1999 and was released in 2004, and most people complained that it played like a PSX Tomb Raider from that same time period? Lets hope that’s not the issue here…