Greetings, commanders! We’re so excited that Game Pass members will soon be joining us in the Korpulu Sector. While the entirety of the original StarCraft and StarCraft II’s multiplayer components are free-to-play, we’re delighted to say that StarCraft: Remastered and StarCraft II: Campaign Collection will be available to anyone with a PC Game Pass or Game Pass Ultimate subscription from November 5.

In this genre-defining sci-fi series, players engage in an epic war across the stars in the 25^th century. Featuring three different factions—the human Terrans, bug-like Zerg, and the technologically advanced Protoss—the games set each species against each other for the fate of the Koprulu sector. 

Ever since StarCraft first launched in 1998 and expanded with StarCraft II in 2010, the series has left an indelible mark on the real-time strategy (RTS) genre, esports, and the rise of live streaming – and continues to enthral a very active and passionate community that is always looking to welcome new members into their ranks. So, while we wait for November 5 to roll around, let’s take a look at the impact the StarCraft series has had on the world… in ways you may not have expected!

StarCraft in Space

In 1999, NASA astronaut Daniel Barry was able to choose a personal item to bring with him on STS-96 Discovery, the first mission to dock with the International Space Station. He chose to bring a copy of StarCraft into orbit.

“The games that appeal to me are easy to learn and hard to master,” Barry said. “I think that’s a characteristic of a really, really good game. One of the things that appeals to me, especially about StarCraft, is the effort that was put in to let people play the game who are not necessarily gamers, and yet maintain the extreme difficulty of becoming a master.”

The Birth of Twitch

Back when StarCraft II entered beta in 2009, Twitch as we know it today was a live-streaming site called Justin.tv. During the game’s seven-year anniversary, one of the co-founders of Twitch told us, “When the beta was finally released, a lot of people started streaming it on Justin.tv and I got hooked watching. Since we were trying to figure out what the next move for Justin.tv was, I began wondering if it would be possible to just focus on gaming content. That’s how StarCraft II was the first impetus for Twitch.”

StarCraft’s Olympic Champion

In 2018, StarCraft II was part of an official pre-Olympic event at the Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea—a fitting location given South Korea’s role in helping to grow esports into what it is today. Broadcast live on Twitch and the Olympic Channel global digital platform, it was a monumental event in more ways than one.

Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn became the first woman to win a major StarCraft II tournament after beating Kim “sOs” Yoo in the finals. It was her first win at a premiere tournament, and made her only the second non-South Korean to win a major StarCraft II tournament in the country. After her victory, she tweeted “Wouldn’t be the Winter Olympics without a Canadian victory o /.” So true.

The StarCraft Community

The most incredible gift the StarCraft series has given us at Blizzard is our community. A good place to start is Team Liquid, which to this day maintains amazing StarCraft II strategy guides, tournament discussions, results tracking, analysis, news, and more.

But if you really want to hear and feel what being a part of the StarCraft community can feel like, check out this video, where Sean “Day9” Plott describes not only how StarCraft changed his life, but how important it is to be proud about the things you love. Over 4 million views can’t be wrong!

We hope to see you on November 5 when StarCraft: Remastered and StarCraft II: Campaign Collection land on Game Pass. Khas il’adare!