The 10 year anniversary of StarCraft 2 is officially underway, and Blizzard announced that it would involve one of esports' longest-tenured titles getting its biggest patch yet among other exciting updates for fans. For those unfamiliar with StarCraft 2, the game is the sequel to perhaps the largest influence on the modern esports scene ever in StarCraft: Brood War, a title that helped prove video games could be competitive outlets during the early 2000s and eventually grew into a scene that saw South Korea's largest telecomms companies get involved.
While StarCraft 2 never quite achieved that same level of success after its early years - the game is now firmly relegated into a lower tier of esports titles, behind games like League of Legends and Dota 2 - it's nevertheless persisted through the years in a way that few other games manage. In fact, a dramatic restructuring of the fundamentals of StarCraft 2 even made the game experience a resurgence in popularity, and though it's still much smaller than the true giants of the scene, it has a stable pro scene, popular tournaments, and lots of streamers still ing the title alongside StarCraft Remastered, a better-looking version of the original title.
With the 10 year anniversary of StarCraft 2 now upon fans, Blizzard announced its plans to celebrate, and they're extensive. In an official Blizzard blog post, the company announced that one of the StarCraft 2 10 year anniversary celebrations would be the implementation of the game's biggest patch yet, Patch 5.0, which will include a Galax Map Editor that will make campaign maps easier to create, new achievements, and more. StarCraft 2 will also be giving fans a free new announcer just for logging in between July 27 and August 10 - legendary player White-Ra, who was a fixture of the scene in its earliest days and the progenitor of some of its first memes.
Fans of the always-competitive StarCraft 2 esports scene will also be treated to of the development team breaking down their personal favorite games from a decade's worth of tournaments. That should provide rare insight into the way developers evaluate their games' performance as an esport and also what they are personally fond of when it comes to playstyle, so it'll be a worthwhile watch for fans who have followed the game for some time.
The 10 year anniversary of StarCraft 2 is a momentous one, but it also does highlight the game's age. While no one is expecting a League of Legends 2 or Dota 3 any time soon, those games are still performing quite well, having long ago outstripped SC2 for viewership figures on Twitch. If there are ever plans for a StarCraft 3, a decade of longevity for StarCraft 2 is likely long enough to hold off on announcing them.
Source: Blizzard