World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft (WoW) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the "Warcraft" fantasy universe. "World of Warcraft" takes place within the "Warcraft" world of Azeroth, approximately four years after the events at the conclusion of Blizzard's previous "Warcraft" release, "." The game was announced in 2001, and was released for the 10th anniversary of the "Warcraft" franchise on November 23, 2004. Since launch, "World of Warcraft" has had seven major expansion packs released for it: "", "", "", "", "", "", and "".
Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans
In August 1998, Roper confirmed that Blizzard planned to complete the animated cutscenes for "Warcraft Adventures", as they could help Blizzard sell film and television studios on the idea of adapting the property. He remarked, "It's one thing to have a bunch of cool stills, and it's another thing to have a fifteen-minute short to show them." While this plan was shelved, the "Warcraft Adventures" story proceeded to inspire much of the later "Warcraft" franchise. When the game was first announced in early 1997, speculation arose that Blizzard planned to follow it with the real-time strategy game "", which the company confirmed a few months later. Intended from the start to build upon the events of "Warcraft Adventures", "Warcraft III" ultimately continued the story of Thrall, and takes place after his reunification of the Horde and defeat of its human captors. Thrall and his father Durotan, also created for "Warcraft Adventures", played major parts in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game "World of Warcraft" and the 2016 film "Warcraft". Wes Fenlon of "PC Gamer US" wrote in 2016, "Few canceled games can claim to have as much impact as "Lord of the Clans", and in the end it seems like Thrall was more valuable than the game itself."