Warcraft
In 2004, Blizzard Entertainment moved the series away from the real-time strategy genre and released "World of Warcraft", a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Requiring a subscription fee to be paid to play, it also introduced regular additional content to the series in the form of patches. "World of Warcraft" gained popularity worldwide, becoming the world's largest subscription-based MMORPG in 2008. The game reached a peak 12 million subscribers worldwide in October 2010. "World of Warcraft" has had seven expansions as of 2018. During the production of "", Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce stated that "If there's a team that's passionate about doing another "Warcraft" [real-time strategy], then that's definitely something we would consider. It's nothing that we're working on right now, we have development teams working on "", "", "Diablo III", and when those teams are all off the projects they're working on, they'll be intimately involved in the discussions about what's next".
Overwatch (video game)
"Overwatch" was unveiled at BlizzCon 2014 in a fully playable state and was in a closed beta from late 2015 through early 2016. An open beta in May 2016 drew in nearly 10 million players. The release of the game was promoted with short animated videos to introduce the game's narrative and each of the characters. Upon official release, "Overwatch" received universal acclaim from critics, who praised the game for its accessibility, diverse appeal of its hero characters, bright cartoonish art style, and enjoyable gameplay. Blizzard reported over in revenue during the first year of its release, and had more than 40 million players after two years. "Overwatch" is considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time, receiving numerous game of the year awards, alongside other accolades. The game has also become recognized as an esport, with Blizzard themselves helping to fund and produce professional leagues, such as the Overwatch League.