Irvine’s Blizzard Entertainment Inc., part of Vivendi SA’s Activision Blizzard Inc., said Wednesday the company is delaying the release of one of its new online games.
Santa Monica-based Activision Blizzard said in a statement that it’s set to push back the releases of two new game titles,”StarCraft II,” a Blizzard game, and “Singularity,” an Activision game.
Both were originally slated to be released this year but now are scheduled to launch in the first half of 2010.
The move to delay “Singularity” was to better time the marketing of the game, the company said.
“The new launch window, which has fewer competitive titles releasing, should improve the probability of achieving stronger results,” it said in a statement.
The company moved the release date of “StarCraft II” to coincide with the upgrade of Blizzard’s own network for hosting online multiplayer games.
“StarCraft II” is what’s known by industry insiders as a “real-time strategy game” in which three races face off in a fictional world.
It went into development in 2003 and was announced in 2007. “StarCraft II” is a follow up to Blizzard’s original “StarCraft,” which came out in 1998.
Blizzard has laid out “StarCraft II” as a trilogy of three installments, which have been given working titles of “Wings of Liberty,” “Heart of the Swarm” and “Legacy of the Void.”
Until recently, Blizzard hasn’t given an official release date for the game.
“As with all Blizzard games, we will take as much time as needed to ensure the game is as fun, balanced, and polished as possible,” the company said on its Web site.
The news comes on the heels of Activision Blizzard’s second quarter results, which came in line with Wall Street’s revenue outlook and beat profit expectations.
The company lowered its revenue outlook for the year as a result of the games being delayed.
Activison Blizzard said it expects 2009 sales of $4.5 billion, down from its previous outlook of $4.8 billion and short of analysts’ expected $4.9 billion in sales.
Blizzard is the biggest maker of online games in the world. Its blockbuster game, “World of Warcraft,” is played by some 12 million people around the world.