Game of the Decade: Number 4
Wednesday, 27 January 2010 17:11 | 
Written by Simon Flatman |
| Features - Editorial |
4. World of Warcraft
Developer: Blizzard
Release: Nov 23rd 2004
Metacritic Score: 93
Format: PC
Sales: 11.84 million
Adam Thomas: After having an industry dominated by what was then termed “Evercrack “ (because it had, by those standards back then, a mammoth of players @ 500,000), Blizzard decided to put its hat in the ring in the MMORPG business. Many companies were trying to keep up with just the 500,000 and failing to do so, as some of the nearest competitors like Anarchy Online, were only at the 100,000 mark.
At currently over 11 million subscribing players, I think Blizzard has succeeded at becoming the king. After making themselves kings of the RTS, especially since games from years ago (i.e. Starcraft & Warcraft III) still getting burn, Blizzard turned out its most successful and profitable (again…11 million people paying monthly) games yet.
Back in 2004, no one could have imagined just what would happen when the title had gained steam. Many of the detractors simply wanted Blizzard to stay in its lane, and wondered why this game was taking precious time from Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 (both at the time of this printing still haven’t been released) but they soon were silenced once they got to see Azeroth in its MMO beauty.
The beauty of the game was the fact that it simply got things right. Even if it had its bumpy beginnings (the start of PvP anyone?) the team at blizzard constantly worked to improve things. The creation of new content at regulated intervals kept old endgame players into the fold. The simple size of Azeroth led to many players creating alts just to try to get a hold on its size. New players are welcomed in by the deceptive simplicity of the system and the low specs the game needs to run. To put it simply, there is never a shortage of things to do and lands to explore, as well as new people to do it with.
While there may be some games that have more hardcore followings (Everquest 2) and up and coming games that are set to give it some competition if executed correctly ( Star Wars: The Old Republic), World of Warcraft seems like it will hold the throne for years to come.
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