Blizzard has been pretty coy about release dates for StarCraft II but in a new investor webcast made for E3 2009 by the Activision Blizzard mothership has indeed confirmed that Blizzard is expecting the sci-fi RTS game sequel to be released by the end of this year.

Blizzard head man Mike Morhaime stated during the webcast, "We're targeting an end of year release-this year-for StarCraft 2, but as always, we won't release it until it meets our standards and the expectations of our players." That obviously leaves Morhaime an out if Blizzard does indeed delay is release. However with StarCraft II's multiplayer beta test scheduled to begin this summer it looks like fans of the franchise will have a very merry holiday.