It had seemingly been on the cards for some weeks, and now its official: II will not be released until the first-half of 2010.

The game was supposed to be out in time for Christmas, but the lack of a previously promised public beta started alarm bells ringing, as analysts predicted slippage.

Activision state that the has been pushed back to "coincide with the relaunch of its upgraded Battle.net -gaming service," billed by executives as the firm's answer to Live.

The news came in Blizzard's official conference call, when second-quarter results were announced.

"As we prepare for next year, we have moved the expected release dates for two games, Activision Publishing's Singularity and Entertainment's StarCraft II, into 2010," conceded CEO Bobby Kotick, chatting with investors.

By Luke Guttridge