Analyst: StarCraft II to sell 4 million, may be pushed to '10
- — 31 July, 2009 04:45
Starcraft II
Say what you will about research analysts, but I think it's clear to everybody that StarCraft II is going to sell pretty well. Just how well is the question and specifically, when? Well, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter predicts StarCraft II is going to sell at least 4 million copies within the games first few months of release. Not bad.
However, what everyone is really wondering, is when will we be able to play the game? Blizzard has stated that they intend to launch the beta this summer, with testing lasting anywhere from four to six months. With such a testing window beginning in August, other analysts have predicted that the game may be joining the "2010" club of delayed games.
"Nobody (truly nobody) knows how long the StarCraft II beta will take," chimed in Pachter when speaking to Gamasutra today. "It's highly likely that the game is polished, with few or no bugs."
"They did a phenomenal job with the World of Warcraft beta (as I recall, it was around four months), and they will have no issues at all in attracting 30,000 supremely knowledgeable beta testers, so my bias is that the beta will take less time than most expect," he remarked.
It is clear that Blizzard is a company renowned for its games, and the incredible amount of effort they put into them. StarCraft II looks to be no exception, so whenever the game is released, it is doubtful that it'll disappoint (even though the axed LAN support is still regrettable). Pachter was quick to add:
"The Blizzard guys are perfectionists, and if they want to take six months, nobody at Activision is going to challenge them," he said. "So the bottom line is that StarCraft II will launch when Blizzard says so."
StarCraft II is slated for a November 3rd, 2009 release and will be available for the PC.
