[1] The series, set in the beginning of the 26th century, centers on a galactic struggle for dominance among four species—the adaptable and mobile Terrans, the ever-evolving insectoid Zerg, the powerful and enigmatic Protoss, and the godlike Xel'Naga creator race—in a distant part of the Milky Way galaxy known as the Koprulu Sector.

StarCraft also marked the creation of Blizzard Entertainment's film department; the game introduced high quality cinematics integral to the storyline of the series.

Having retreated with Kerrigan to their primary hive clusters, the Zerg are assaulted by Protoss forces commanded by Tassadar and the dark templar Zeratul.

Although successfully taking the Dominion capital Korhal and enslaving the Overmind, the UED's efforts to capture Mengsk are thwarted by a double agent working for Kerrigan, Samir Duran.

The Raiders embark on a series of missions to undermine Mengsk, stop frequent Zerg infestations on Terran worlds, gather psychic individuals for military assets, and find the remaining pieces of the Xel'Naga artifact, which they sell to the enigmatic Moebius Foundation in order to fund their revolution.

Soon after, Zeratul delivers a psychic crystal that allows Raynor to share visions involving an ominous prophecy where Zerg-Protoss hybrids and an enslaved Zerg swarm wipe out the Terrans and the Protoss.

Kerrigan manages to escape, but is cut off from Raynor and upon hearing news that he was captured and executed, she returns to Zerg territory to retake control of the swarm and exact revenge on Mengsk.

With the Dominion under control of Mengsk's son Valerian, Kerrigan bids farewell to Raynor and departs with the Zerg Swarm to confront Amon and his forces.

In Legacy of the Void, Zeratul invades a Terran installation under control of Amon in order to pinpoint the exact location of his resurrection, taking advantage of a sudden attack by Kerrigan and the Zerg swarm.

After escaping the planet with an ancient vessel, the Spear of Adun, Artanis reclaims the artifact as Zeratul suggested and gathers allies among the many Protoss tribes scattered across the galaxy in order to remake his army and launch another assault on Aiur.

Two years later, Kerrigan appears before Raynor in human form and he departs with her to never be heard from again, while the Zerg, the Terran and the Protoss civilizations begin to rebuild in an age of peace and prosperity.

In addition, two spin-off titles have been released; these are authorized expansion packs to the original that focus on other characters and settings based at the same time as the main storyline.

A Nintendo 64 port including StarCraft, Brood War, and a new secret mission "Resurrection IV"[23] was released in the United States on June 13, 2000.

A total of seven new units with different functions and abilities are included, the artificial intelligence behavior was modified, new graphical tilesets for terrain were added, and the game's level editor received improved scripting tools to facilitate cut scenes with the in-game engine.

The story of StarCraft is concluded by following the Protoss Race in their quest to reclaim their homeworld and for Kerrigan to ultimately slay the greatest threat to the entire universe.

Announced in 2002,[57] the game was constantly delayed due to various issues, including a change of development team from Nihilistic Software to Swingin' Ape Studios in July 2004.

Blizzard Entertainment consequently filed a lawsuit against Microstar for selling the add-on, arguing that as the product was unauthorized and created using StarCraft's level editing software, it was a breach of the end user license agreement.

As gamers ourselves, we feel obligated to prevent the sale of unauthorized add-on products that do not add value to the StarCraft experience.In November 1998, Blizzard Entertainment won the court case against Microstar Software.

In the settlement, Microstar agreed to pay an undisclosed amount in punitive damages and to destroy all remaining copies of Stellar Forces in its possession, as well as to formally apologize to Blizzard Entertainment.

Development on Brood War began shortly after StarCraft's release, and Blizzard Entertainment were assisted by members of Saffire, who were contracted for a variety of tasks consisting of programming and design for levels, visuals and audio effects.

[81] Brower has also pointed out that certain musical themes in StarCraft II become associated with certain characters,[82] a technique borrowed from composers such as John Williams and Richard Wagner.

Both these recording sessions were mixed by John Kurlander, who had previously worked on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and The Beatles' Abbey Road.

[83] The Terran country and blues pieces were recorded at Dreamland studio in Woodstock, New York, and performed by members of Peter Gabriel's band, including bassist Tony Levin and drummer Jerry Marotta.

In 2007 Christie Golden, an author whose previous work included novels in Blizzard's Warcraft series,[93] was brought in to write a trilogy entitled the StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga.

[102] There was a Starcraft graphic novel released in 2010, produced by Wildstorm and DC Comics, which features outlaws working on a last job, the assassination of Jim Raynor.

[113] Heroes of the Storm originated as a custom map called "Blizzard DOTA", as a part of the arcade feature for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.

[121] The magazine PC Zone gave Brood War a short but flattering review, describing it as having "definitely been worth the wait" and also drew note to the cinematic cut scenes, stating that they "actually feel like part of the story rather than an afterthought.

"[137] IGN stated that Brood War's enhancements were "enough to enrich the core gameplay without losing the flavor"[138] while GameSpot noted that the expansion was developed with the same level of care as the full game.

[143] StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void, the third expansion pack, was similarly well received, having a GameRankings aggregate score of 88% while selling more than one million copies worldwide within the first day of its release.

[145] In December 2018, an artificial intelligence system by Google's DeepMind (called "AlphaStar") beat professional players in StarCraft II for the first time.