Blizzard on chances of StarCraft Wii U, console possibilities
Starcraft 64 was the last time Blizzard Entertainment assisted in development of a Nintendo console game. There was StarCraft: Ghost, too, but that’s practically vaporware at this point.
So yes, it’s been quite some time since Blizzard was actively involved with a Nintendo system. But could the studio work on the Wii U in the future?
When StarCraft II lead designer Dustin Browder was asked this question, he admitted that he wasn’t familiar with the console. After receiving an explanation of the GamePad, Browder said:
“The problem I have with the iPhone interface is the big meaty sausages called my fingers that are always in the way. If I can control a cursor on the television with my hand on the touchscreen, that might be able to work. [But] because of the hotkey scenario, it’s not like players actually play StarCraft with the mouse only—they play with the mouse and keyboard… We obviously allow new users to play mouse-only and that’s really fun, but when you get serious about the game you do move into the mouse and keyboard space.”
Browder was then specifically asked if a console version of StarCraft II is in development:
“Every now and then we do have people show us things. Or we will see demos to kinda dip our toe in the water and say, ‘Is this real yet?’ But we’ve never been able to convince ourselves.”
What would it take to get a Starcraft game on a console?
According to Browder:
“It needs to match a very high quality level for control for us to consider a StarCraft move in that direction. Again, if there is enough there, totally we could make a port. And if there’s not enough there, it still might be exciting to do a whole new title.”
Browder also said that Blizzard isn’t interested in making “kinda crappy ports.”
“Like, if I’m a new user, I don’t wanna come over and see StarCraft on the Wii platform and StarCraft on the PC and go ‘oh, I guess it’s a Wii game,’ and get it and find out that was the bad version.
“So [a console StarCraft] would have to be just an awesome experience. As an alternative, we’d have to redesign the game for that UI which could be something we can do down the road, but that wouldn’t be a port anymore. That would be a much more serious endeavor with lots of design time and lots of work poured into it.
“We haven’t seen the system that we felt we could easily do it. And that’s not to say that some day we won’t make a really special effort to get it done, cause it certainly would be exciting. We’re just not there yet.”
It should be noted that if StarCraft heads to consoles, it won’t be a port. Browder indicated that it’d be a completely new project, with unique interfaces, units, and controls.
