Blizzard Entertainment
On November 23, 2004, Blizzard released "World of Warcraft", a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. "World of Warcraft" is the fourth released game set in the fantasy "Warcraft" universe, which was first introduced by "" in 1994. Blizzard announced "World of Warcraft" on September 2, 2001. The game was released on November 23, 2004, on the 10th anniversary of the "Warcraft" franchise.
Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans
In 2017, Alex Cachinero-Gorman wrote that "Warcraft Adventures" "spawn[ed] wistful retrospectives every few years". "PC Gamer US" named it one of the "Greatest Games (Never Made)" in 1998, and included it in a list of the "10 Cancelled PC Games We Still Want To Play" in 2011. Its development was also the subject of a long "PC Gaming Graveyard" feature by GameSpot, the site's first in this series. However, in response to questions about the game's revival in 2009, Samwise Didier remarked, "DVDs are really popular because of deleted scenes, but when you watch them you can see why they weren't included in the movie. That's what "Warcraft Adventures" is." The cancellation of "Warcraft Adventures" is often cited as an example of Blizzard's "willingness to cancel a game late in development to protect the quality of their brand", according to Cachinero-Gorman. It was among a years-long string of cancellations at Blizzard, including "", "Shattered Nations", "Crixa", "Nomad" and "", alongside the "Titan" project canceled in 2014 after roughly seven years' development. Calling this trend the key to Blizzard's success in 2016, Kat Bailey of USgamer regarded "Warcraft Adventures" cancellation a wise choice for Blizzard's brand, as otherwise "it might still be an object of ridicule today."