StarCraft: Ghost Xbox leak reveals what could have been two decades ago

By Ewdison Then/Feb. 16, 2020 9:37 pm EST

Blizzard may have been getting a lot of flak lately for its failure to reinvigorate the classic WarCraft III through its Reforged remaster but that is just one of the recent high-profile flops the game developer has made. More than a decade ago, it called quits on what could have been a major milestone for Blizzard's entry into the console space but, after years of delays, StarCraft: Ghost was eventually canceled. Now thanks to the magic of the Internet and some brave source, the public is getting a taste of what the game on the Xbox could have been.

Ghost was a huge test of Blizzard's game development chops, which is probably also a factor in its failure. Unlike the main StarCraft series, Ghost was a third-person shooter rather than a real-time strategy. It was also intended for the then-current generation of consoles, including the Xbox, the PlayStation 2, and even the GameCube, further increasing the hype around the title.

That was in 2002 and by 2008, it was clear that StarCraft: Ghost wouldn't be coming at all. It was only in 2014 that Blizzard publicly acknowledged that it was canceled, along with WarCraft Adventures and the Titan MMO. This weekend, however, it seems that someone was able to get hold of an Xbox build of the game which has then made rounds on YouTube.

Who would have thought a month ago that Starcraft Ghost would leak in some form? pic.twitter.com/24wCp4XBsE

— Andrew Borman (@Borman18) February 16, 2020

Being a game developed for the early generation of consoles in the mid-2000s, you shouldn't get your hopes up about the quality of the graphics. Allegedly lifted from a developer kit, the game is also buggy and has caused at least one console to crash during video recording. Still, it's interesting to finally see the vision Blizzard had for the game in action.

The Xbox build for StarCraft: Ghost is going around on the Internet, in secret of course. Only time will tell before Activision Blizzard wields its mightly DMCA hammer to wipe its traces off the Internet. Until then, perhaps it could inspire fans of the franchise to pick up where the company failed to take off. Who knows, maybe 13 years later, fans will get a VR "sequel" to the franchise as well.