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The Xel'Naga

Godlike creators whose experiments led to their own destruction.

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The Xel'Naga are a godlike creator race in the StarCraft science fiction franchise, set in the Koprulu Sector of the Milky Way galaxy.[1] According to the game manual, the Xel'Naga, a species that existed millennia before the events of the games, used genetic engineering to create the Protoss and later the Zerg, aiming to produce beings of purity.[2] The manual states that these experiments failed, resulting in the Zerg largely destroying the Xel'Naga.[2]

Timeline of the series

10 releases, 1998–2017. Select one to open its entry.

  1. 1998StarCraftWindows, Classic Mac OS, Nintendo 64
  2. 1998StarCraft: Insurrection (Wikipedia, opens in a new tab)
  3. 1998StarCraft: Brood WarMicrosoft Windows, Mac OS, Nintendo 64
  4. 1998StarCraft: RetributionWindows, Classic Mac OS, macOS +1 more (Wikipedia, opens in a new tab)
  5. 2000StarCraft 64Windows, Classic Mac OS, Nintendo 64
  9. 2016StarCraft II: Nova Covert OpsMicrosoft Windows, macOS (Wikipedia, opens in a new tab)
  10. 2017StarCraft: RemasteredMicrosoft Windows, MacOS (Wikipedia, opens in a new tab)

Dates: Wikipedia: StarCraft (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Key facts and history

The Xel'Naga are described as having genetically engineered the Protoss and later the Zerg before being destroyed by the Zerg.[2] Chris Metzen and James Phinney are the creators of the StarCraft series, which is owned by Blizzard Entertainment.[1] A modified Warcraft II game engine was used for StarCraft, which was first shown at the 1996 Electronic Entertainment Expo.[3] The initial game in the series, StarCraft, was made available for Windows on March 31, 1998.[4]

The entire franchise had generated more than $1 billion in revenue by the end of 2017.[5] Four Guinness World Records are held by the series, as recorded in the 2008 Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition.[5][6]

What the cited sources add

The Nova Covert Ops mission pack describes the Defenders of Man using psi-emitters to draw zerg attacks on civilian worlds to discredit Emperor Valerian.[7][8] The same source states that the Defenders of Man manipulated Nova, using her to incite zerg attacks against civilians.[8] A 2017 article notes that Blizzard updated StarCraft: Brood War and made the game free as part of that update.[9]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "StarCraft" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Celebrating 20 Years of Starcraft: An Interview with Starcraft's Creators – IGN", March 30, 2018 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "StarCraft" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Underwood, "StarCraft (manual)", Blizzard Entertainment, 1998, p. 70–90; Underwood, "StarCraft (manual)", Blizzard Entertainment, 1998, p. 50–69; Underwood, "StarCraft (manual)", Blizzard Entertainment, 1998, p. 50–69 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "StarCraft" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops gets its first DLC pack for Windows PC", Windows Report Error-free Tech Life, 2016-03-18 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "StarCraft" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "StarCraft 10-Year Anniversary: A Retrospective", Blizzard Entertainment (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "StarCraft" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Eight $1B+ Franchises Across Our Portfolio of Primarily Owned IP", Activision Blizzard, August 3, 2017; "2006 Walk of Game Inductees", Metreon; "Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition", Hit Entertainment, 2008 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Open Library record, ISBN 9781904994206 ("Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
  7. "Nova Covert Ops: Mission Pack 2", StarCraft II, August 2, 2016. facts only, no text reused. news.blizzard.com
  8. "Patch 3.8 Preview: Nova, the Final Missions", StarCraft II, November 16, 2016. facts only, no text reused. news.blizzard.com
  9. Hilliard, "StarCraft: Brood War Patch Version 1.18 Makes The Game Completely Free", April 18, 2017. facts only, no text reused. gameinformer.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article StarCraft (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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