The hype was massive. Trailers showed Nova sniping Zerglings, using cloaking to avoid Hydralisks, and performing psychic scans. IGN called it "the best looking game at E3 2003."

In 2006, Blizzard finally put a bullet in it:

Let’s talk about the phantom disc that refuses to die. Rewind to 2002. Halo: Combat Evolved had just proven that console shooters could work. Metal Gear Solid 2 was king of cinematic stealth. Blizzard, riding high off Brood War and Warcraft III , wanted a piece of the action.

Then? Silence. Blizzard is famous for "when it’s ready." But Ghost was different. It was outsourced to Nihilistic Software, then to Swingin’ Ape Studios. The console generation shifted from PS2/Xbox to Xbox 360/PS3. The graphics looked dated before the game even shipped.