Barbie star Simu Liu cast as Warz in Stormgate

Barbie and Marvel actor’s video game debut

Simu Liu, who starred as Ken in Barbie and Shang-Chi in Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, has been announced as part of the cast of Stormgate, an upcoming real-time strategy game developed by Frost Giant. Liu will portray a character named Warz, one of the leaders of the Infernal Host and a “recurring playable character” in the title’s story, which has been co-written by the legendary Chris Metzen.

Metzen, who himself voiced a character for the game, and Liu’s involvement were revealed at The Game Awards 2023, where Frost Giant debuted a new trailer for Stormgate, in which Warz shows up at the very end to herald an invasion by the Infernal Host. This faction mixing the Zerg from StarCraft with Diablo-esque demons is one of three playable groups in the game.

A look at Warz, who is voiced by Simu Liu / Frost Giant

Simu Liu is a big fan of RTS games and took part in the earliest Stormgate play tests this year, winning an informal tournament at Frost Giant’s office. He commented: “When we heard that Stormgate was happening and that it was from so many of the same people who made the games that I loved growing up (and worshiped in a lot of ways), I got excited and wanted to see if I could be involved.”

Explaining what makes him excited for the game, he said: “What's most exciting about Stormgate is that it was made by people who love RTS. This is a game that, in its DNA, is every bit the games that I loved growing up. I feel like it doesn't get more authentic than that.”

Warz will be a playable character in Stormgate's Infernal Host campaign / Frost Giant

“When Simu visited Frost Giant headquarters to show us his RTS skills, his passion really struck a chord with us,” commented Tim Morten, CEO and Production Director at Frost Giant Studios. Apparently, Liu’s visit and excitement is what motivated the company to explore the possibility of starting a crowdfunding campaign for a physical collector’s edition of the game, which is already underway.

Formed by former Blizzard developers who wanted to continue making RTS games, Frost Giant is expected to launch Stormgate in summer 2024. Playtests for 1v1 have been conducted in the last few months and a test for the 3vAI co-op mode has begun on December 5, 2023.

Stormgate will be a free-to-play game with a continuously supported single-player campaign, a “purist” 1v1 multiplayer mode, a competitive 3v3 multiplayer mode, and a 3vAI co-op mode. It’ll support custom maps as well.

Stormgate fuses StarCraft and Warcraft in new gameplay footage