A World Without… World of Warcraft

No, this isn’t an article about what
you might do if you suddenly logged in one morning and all your WoW
gold achievements, and those epic mounts, were gone, or worse, if
there wasn’t a launcher to log in to. Rather, this is a speculative
article about how the industry and MMO genre might be different had
Blizzard chosen not to develop World of Warcraft.

At just over half a decade old, there
are few records Blizzard’s behemoth hasn’t cracked. It brings in over
a billion dollars a year in revenue, and is actively played by over
ten million loyal and and active fans, who cough up $15 a month to
wander the world of Azeroth. But what if it never was? What if,
instead of pursuing the creation of World of Wacraft, Blizzard
had decided against entering the MMO space?

What
it would have meant for Blizzard:

Diablo III, and StarCraft II
would be out by now.

You can bet that one, or both of these
would have been the next game on Blizzard’s slate after Warcraft
III. The ongoing revenues enjoyed from the wild success of World
of Warcraft and its various expansions has meant that Blizzard
really hasn’t had to worry too much about where the cash for the next
meal is coming from. The lack of a cash cow like WoW could, or rather
would have meant that Blizzard would have to follow a more
traditional development model.

Hard to believe, but it’s been ten
years since Diablo II, and a whopping twelve years since
StarCraft, despite the fact that both franchises have a rabid
and vocal fanbase, and StarCraft in particular is still played
on the tournament circuit. You can bet that without World of
Warcraft, we would have seen at least one sequel to one or both
games.

Would
the Activision merger have happened?

This is a tough one. The reason
Blizzard was such an attractive partner for Activision was the
strength of the World of Warcraft brand, and the vice like
grip Blizzard had on the lucrative market. While Blizzard would still
likely have been a strong developer, it’s unlikely that it would be
in the kind of position it finds itself thanks to the success of the
game.

That said, Blizzard, like Valve, are a
canny group of individuals, and you can only imagine they would have
found a way to make the most of the lack of WoW, perhaps we would
have seen the birth of a fourth pillar to be added to the Warcraft,
StarCraft, Diablo triumvirate? And no, a new Lost Viking’s game
doesn’t count.

What it would have meant for their
competition, and the genre:

In 1995, when World of Warcraft
burst on the scene to change the face of the MMO-scape, and redefine
what was expected of a game in the genre, a certain Sony Online
Entertainment was on the verge of rolling out the sequel to a game
that was, at the time, the absolute zenith of achievement in the MMO
genre.

EverQuest II, the sequel to
the popular EverQuest, promised eye poppingly futuristic
visuals, voice acting, and more questing raiding and eqII plat than
you could shake a big stick at. A year prior, SOE had also launched
the highly anticipated Star Wars: Galaxies, it was believed by
many that this one two punch would easily be more than enough to tie
up the MMO genre for years to come. Oh, but for the advent of World
of Warcraft.

One of the major incidences that’s
often cited in