Many legendary video game developers have left their mark on the history of the gaming industry, defining or changing the way we think about a particular genre of video games. Not many companies can claim that they have shaped the vision of not just one genre, but several. One such team is Blizzard Entertainment.
The fantasy-themed game series Warcraft gave us one of the best RTS, the most famous MMORPG in the world, and reinvented the digital collectible card game. Today, we will find out what made this developer’s games not just popular but iconic classics, and who was behind their development.
The Origins: From Silicon & Synapse to Blizzard
Back in 1993, a company of young enthusiasts: Mike Morhaime, Frank Pearce, and Allen Adam from Silicon and Synaps, as Blizzard was then called, was just one of many companies at the time that ported products for larger market players and occasionally released small but successful projects such as The Lost Vikings and Rock ‘n Roll Racing.
Everything changed with the release of the revolutionary strategy game Dune 2. The game captured the hearts and minds of young enthusiasts so much that they set about creating their own improved version of the game in this genre.
There were endless discussions among the staff about the setting for the game, with suggestions ranging from Ancient Rome to the Vietnam War, but since all the employees were big fans of Tolkien’s work and the Warhammer tabletop wargame, it was decided to settle on a fantasy world with elves, orcs, and other magical creatures. The project was named Warcraft.
Initially, it was not the name of the game itself, as the name was supposed to evoke associations with tabletop wargames, and various games in different settings and franchises were planned to be released under this brand.
The Failure of a Warhammer Partnership and a New Identity
The famous studio was dissatisfied with the idea and did not understand why they should support unknown developers who had made an unsolicited game. Games Workshop did not immediately realise that they had kicked out the goose that laid the golden eggs.
Blizzard’s management, as the company ended up being known after Allen Adham, grew tired of the name Silicon & Synapse, as it reminded customers more of microchip manufacturing than video games. But the new name, Chaos Studios, however, suitable for the team of young enthusiasts who approached their work without a clear plan and just did what they enjoyed.
It also caused them trouble, as the Florida-based company Chaos Technologies presented them with a bill for $100,000 if they wanted to keep the name. So Adheim and his lawyers combed through the entire dictionary in search of words that would not cause them problems, and the choice fell on a simple word — Blizzard.
Blizzard didn’t lament for long, removed Warhammer Fantasy from the game’s name, and now the new word in the RTS genre was called Warcraft Orcs vs. Humans. The game was about the confrontation between the kingdom of humans and a bloodthirsty horde of orcs who came from another world to conquer it.
Surprisingly, the original game did not have an upper limit on the number of units that could be selected, but many of Patrick’s colleagues did not want players to simply select all their units and send them into a meat grinder. Therefore, players could only select four units at a time, forcing them to rely more on strategy and careful use of their troops.
In addition, Blizzard saw great potential in players fighting not just against the computer, but against each other, so another innovation in the genre was multiplayer, which allowed players to play in 1v1 mode.
The Birth of World of Warcraft
The game was released in 1994. With so many innovative mechanics and an attractive setting, it’s no surprise that the game became the first hit from the legendary studio.
The following year, Blizzard released the sequel, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness. According to the plot, the kingdom of humans was defeated in the war against the orcs and was forced to flee across the sea, but the orcs decided to capture it as well, starting a second war.
Blizzard decided to raise the level of epic battles by allowing players to now fight at sea and in the air. New units were added to the game, such as dragons, ships, and griffin riders. In 1996, the expansion Beyond the Dark was released, featuring new multiplayer maps and new heroes for the Horde and the Alliance.
In the same year, Blizzard introduced the online service Battle.net, which allowed users to find opponents without leaving the game. This platform eventually became the main driving force and hub for the community, not only for Warcraft games but also for other franchises from the legendary developer.
Warcraft III: A New Era for RTS Games
Six years later, after a long wait, fans rejoiced once again as Blizzard released the third part of the phenomenal RTS series, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. For the studio, it was the first game on a 3D engine.
And for every giant in the video game market, this new chapter in history was the biggest test that many companies failed to pass. Blizzard’s new game sold 1 million copies in its first month alone, and prestigious publications showered the game with praise, reviews, and awards.
Two new races, the Undead and the Night Elves, were added to the game. Blizzard liked the concept of unique factions from Starcraft and transferred it to Warcraft 3, so now every player could choose the race they liked best. If you want to run around and conquer everything with brute force, the Horde is for you; if you want to overwhelm the enemy with a bunch of units, the Undead is your choice.
RPG elements were added to the game, as each hero now had a level and abilities and could equip artefacts that strengthened them.
MMORPG Innovation and the Peak of Popularity
A year later, an expansion called Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne was released. The developers prepared new units and heroes for players, fixed the multiplayer balance, which became the main priority for the developers, and added four new campaigns for each race.
I think the main difference between Warcraft 3 and other strategy games is that you’re not just trying to wipe your opponent off the map. That’s your ultimate goal, of course, but the addition of merchants, mercenary camps, and fountains of life and mana changes the player’s tactics, adding strategic points, shares one of Blizzard’s lead developers, Bill Roper.
Alongside the development of Warcraft 3 in 1998, part of the team was working on a new, unannounced project that was never meant to see the light of day. After it was cancelled, the team needed a new goal.
At the same time, many Blizzard employees were avid fans of EverQuest and Ultima Online, two of the most popular MMORPGs that were taking the world by storm, so it’s no surprise that the employees who were suddenly left without a project came up with the idea of making their own MMORPG.
Once again, work began in the Blizzard offices, and once again, the employees did not know exactly what they were doing and simply followed a basic rule: make a game that you would play yourself. Many of the mechanics on which the early World of Warcraft was based, as Blizzard christened their new creation, were borrowed from EverQuest.
The main idea of the game was quests. In each zone, players were given a certain number of quests that allowed them to gain experience and gold and advance through the storyline. Users could create a character by choosing one of the warring factions, the Alliance or the Horde, and one of eight classes.
Expansions, Evolution, and a Decline in Momentum
Development took more than five years. During this time, Rob Pardo, Alex Afrasiabi, and Jeff Kaplan, veteran developers of Ultima Online, joined the project. After months of hype and endless beta testing, the game was released on 23 November 2004 in the United States, and three months later it became available in Europe. Fans were thrilled, reviews were excellent, and sales exceeded all expectations.
But at Blizzard’s headquarters, chaos and panic reigned, as they were facing something like this for the first time.
We weren’t prepared for how many people would want to play the game, how quickly they would reach the maximum level
Rob Pardo
Over the next few months, Blizzard’s development team grew several times over, with entire departments dedicated exclusively to quests and others to designing high-level dungeons.
The popularity and innovation of World of Warcraft made it a cult classic and part of modern pop culture.
Other developers tried to copy it, all gaming magazines wrote about it, and everyone from schoolchildren to respected businessmen played it. Even before the release of the first expansion, the game had 7 million active users, and in 2009, at the peak of its popularity, there were 12 million active subscribers.
World of Warcraft’s unique monetisation system is worth mentioning separately. To play Blizzard’s MMORPG, you had to buy not only the game itself, but also a game subscription for one month, three months, or six months. This subscription could be renewed at any time. Over time, Blizzard realised that they could sell more than just time. Players could now purchase exclusive mounts or pets in the store for real money.
This turned the gaming market upside down and changed the perception of the gaming industry, as Blizzard earned more in the first month of sales of a single mount in the game than it did from sales of the legendary Starcraft II in its entire lifetime. From now on, all game companies will focus on this financial model for their projects; thus, Blizzard started a new era in the world of video games.
The Rise of Blizzard’s Community Platform
Since 2006, every two years, World of Warcraft has released story-driven expansions that add new classes, game zones, dungeons, raids, and other game content. The Burning Crusade and Wrath of Lich King expansions are considered the golden age of the game, when it hit the absolute peak of popularity as well as was flooded with new ideas.
After that, the hype around the game gradually subsided, and each subsequent expansion received less and less approval from the gaming community. But even so, the game still manages to retain about 5 million active players worldwide, which is an absolute record for a pay-to-play game project.
Since 2006, every two years, World of Warcraft has released story-driven expansions that add new classes, game zones, dungeons, raids, and other game content. The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King expansions are considered the golden age of the game, when it hit its peak of popularity and was flooded with new ideas.
After that, the hype around the game gradually subsided, and each subsequent expansion received less and less approval from the gaming community. But even so, the game still manages to retain about 5 million active players worldwide, which is an absolute record for a paid game project.
Blizzard’s Foray into MOBAs and Mobile Gaming
After losing the rights to the custom Warcraft III game called DotA in a legal battle, Blizzard actively set about creating its own MOBA, watching the growing popularity of League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, and Dota 2.
And in 2015, Heroes of the Storm servers were launched, where players gathered on various 5v5 battlefields, controlling familiar characters from the Diablo, Warcraft, and Starcraft universes. Despite a successful interpretation of the MOBA concept, without active support from the esports scene and a release that was a good five years late, HotS did not find the fame it deserved, and active support for it was discontinued in 2020.
In 2014, Blizzard announced that it was ready to expand the Warcraft universe into another genre and presented a new online collectible card game based on the famous universe. Players were offered to choose one of the Warcraft heroes, build a deck of up to 30 cards with creatures, and compete in one-on-one duels. The experiment again exceeded all expectations, as in the first year, the free game’s player base reached 25 million people, and by 2018, it had reached 100 million players.
The 2010s were a challenging period for the legendary company. The success of previous projects brought significant profits, but each new game faced increasing problems and criticism. The merger with Activision and the transfer of management to Bobby Kotick, an ambitious businessman rather than a gamer, did not help the company either.
In an attempt to reignite interest in World of Warcraft, on 26 August 2019, Blizzard launched WoW Classic, offering players the chance to relive their memories and experience the original World of Warcraft. Despite the unreal hype surrounding the launch of the Classic servers, with more than 2 million players online on the first day, interest in the game quickly waned and now only about 250,000 players play on WoW Classic servers daily.
In 2018, it was announced at BlizzCon that RTS fans were in for a treat, as Blizzard was preparing a remaster of the cult strategy game Warcraft III Reforged. Players were promised not only updated textures on a new engine, but also reworked and expanded missions that corresponded to the World of Warcraft lore.
However, the release date of the remaster was postponed time and time again, and when fans finally got the chance to download a working version of the remaster, they were in for a bitter disappointment.
The models themselves looked quite raw, the campaign was barely different from the original, and the client not only lacked new features but also lacked those that were in the original game, such as a ladder for ranked games. The fierce loyal fans were furious, and on MetaCritics, the game received the lowest average rating in the history of the portal: 0.4/10.
Controversy, Corporate Shifts, and Nostalgia Plays
In the early 2020s, the company’s management was obsessed with the idea of entering the mobile platform market. Even the failure of Diablo Immortal did not make them change course, so in 2022, a mobile game was announced that brought us back to the familiar universe of Warcraft. This time it was an auto-battler, where players had to destroy their opponent’s main building in one-on-one battles by hiring units that followed several lines.
Unfortunately, the game suffered the same fate as HotS, as the developers were late again and the game looked like a cheap clone of Clash Royale, which had already lost its popularity. Therefore, just two years after its release, it was announced that active support for the game would be discontinued.
Canceled Projects and Expanded Lore
Few people know, but in the late 90s, Blizzard tried its hand not only at developing MMORPGs and RTS games, but also at a point-and-click quest game called Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans. Die-hard fans of the series within the company worked on a game that would tell the story of the new leader of the Horde, the young orc Thrall.
Players had to solve puzzles and search for items while enjoying the incomparable situational humour in the style of Monty Python. However, during development, the company realised that the project did not meet their standards and cancelled development. Even so, an unfinished version of the game can still be found on some forums and even played a little.
The Warcraft universe was so loved by fans and the developers themselves that it has long since grown beyond the boundaries of video games. In the early 2000s, Blizzard hired writers to help expand the world and history of Warcraft. Since then, 37 novels by various authors, 10 separate comics, and 10 manga have been published.
The Future of Warcraft and Hope for Revival
The world of cinema also did not ignore Warcraft, and in 2016, a film from Legendary Pictures, directed by Duncan Jones, was released. The film told the story of the first war between orcs and humans. Despite Blizzard’s diligent supervision of the project, the film failed to generate enthusiasm among fans of the series, and despite its commercial success, all plans for further films were cancelled.
After Microsoft acquired Blizzard, many old fans are hoping for a revival of the former glory of the Warcraft series, and quite possibly with good reason, as some of the company’s old-timers, such as Chris Metzen, the spiritual father of the universe, are returning to work within the company.
So fans are pinning high hopes on World of Warcraft: War Within, which is set to be the prologue to a new chapter in the game’s history. Perhaps this is the beginning of a renaissance for the cultural phenomenon of the early 2000s.
