Blizzard started to work on a sequel to the Warcraft II in early 1998, which was announced as a "role-playing strategy" game.[20][21] Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, the third title set in the Warcraft fictional universe, was released in July 2002.[22] Warcraft III has inspired many future games, having the influence on real-time strategy and multiplayer online battle arena genre.[23][24] Many of the characters, locations and concepts introduced in Warcraft III and its expansion went on to play major roles in numerous future Blizzard's titles.[23][25][26]