StarCraft 2 is celebrating its 10th anniversary! We celebrate with a little review and 5 facts you probably didn’t know yet.

Ten years ago, Blizzard Entertainment ushered in a new – and very successful – era with the successor to the real-time strategy game StarCraft. Today, StarCraft 2 is one of the original eSports titles and still enjoys a high reputation in the competitive scene, especially internationally. Hardly any other game demands such a high degree of eye-hand coordination or so many actions per minute.

Switzerland also used to have a strong international presence with the mYinsanity organization, for example with the South Korean player Stardust. Two of the most famous names in the scene today also once played for mYinsanity: Serral and Reynor. Serral became the most famous face of the scene at the end of 2018, as he became the first European to win the World Championship, making history in the process. The only other European to steal Serral’s throne three times already is Reynor. The now 18-year-old Italian was just 11 years old when he joined mYinsanity.

In our Good Game video series, we took a closer look at the history of StarCraft and spoke with Fabio “Zervas” Bügler, a former StarCraft 2 player.

But now let’s get to the facts:

Space Vampires

Zerg, Protoss and Terran my ass. In the early development phase of StarCraft, there was no trace of the three races. Instead, the game was supposed to be about space vampires. The team around the former vice president of Story and Franchise Development was (fortunately) not at all taken with this idea. And even more fortunately, this mutation did not find its way into the final game.

StarCraft: Ghost, the shooter that never appeared

StarCraft 2 shouldn’t have been the only sequel to StarCraft. Back in 2002, Blizzard announced StarCraft: Ghost, a third-person stealth action shooter set in the Starcraft universe. The player slipped into the role of Nova. In the meantime, the game has been canceled.

Entry in the Guinness Book of Records

StarCraft has several entries in the Guinness Book of Records, including longest-lived eSports title and best-selling PC game. StarCraft 2 holds yet another record: it was purchased over one million times on its first day of sale, making it the fastest-selling strategy game.

StarCraft movie

Blizzard is known for its cinematics. One story from the Blizzard universe has already made it to the big screen: Warcraft: The Beginning. However, fans of this series have been waiting a long time – and most likely in vain – for a sequel. The possibility of a StarCraft movie has also long haunted the minds of game developers. Rob Pardo, Executive Vice President of Game Design, revealed in 2010 that they were really just waiting for the right person: James Cameron. The film director is known for films such as Avatar – Departure to Pandora, Terminator, Aliens or Alita: Battleangel. Would certainly have fit well, but unfortunately always remained a dream.

The first game in the (real) universe

StarCraft was the first game to effectively make it into the universe. Former astronaut Daniel Barry was a big StarCraft fan and decided to take a copy with him to the International Space Station in 1999 so he could continue playing with his family. The CD circled the Earth 153 times and traveled 6,482 million kilometers across the universe. Blizzard then invited Daniel Barry for an interview. By the way, Barry did not come to play. However, the CD and some photos of it can be viewed in Blizzard’s in-house museum. If that’s not galactic.