When was the game World of Warcraft released?
World of Warcraft
"World of Warcraft" was first announced by Blizzard at the ECTS trade show in September 2001. Released in 2004, development of the game took roughly 4–5 years, including extensive testing. The 3D graphics in "World of Warcraft" use elements of the proprietary graphics engine originally used in "Warcraft III". The game was designed to be an open environment where players are allowed to do what they please. Quests are optional and were designed to help guide players, allow character development, and to spread characters across different zones to try to avoid what developers called "player collision". The game interface allows players to customize appearance and controls, and to install add-ons and other modifications.
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
"Warcraft II" debuted at #2 on PC Data's monthly computer game sales chart for December 1995, behind "Myst". It held the spot in January 1996, but dropped to #3 in its third month. The game stayed in PC Data's top 3 from April through October, securing first place in April, August and September. After falling to #5 in November, it exited the top 10 the following month. "Warcraft II" achieved worldwide sales of 500,000 units within three months of release, and of over 1.2 million by November. This made it the world's most commercially successful computer game of the year as of November, according to PC Data. In the United States, it was the second-best-selling computer game of 1996, again behind "Myst". The game sold 835,680 copies and earned $34.5 million in the region for the year. To capitalize on this success, Blizzard released the "Warcraft Battlechest" on November 11, which bundled "Warcraft: Orcs & Humans" with "Warcraft II" and the "Into the Dark Portal" add-on.
World of Warcraft
On October 7, 2010 "World of Warcraft" reached a subscriber base of over 12 million players. Since May 2011, the number of players playing had decreased by 10% from 11.4 million to 10.3 million. Blizzard's CEO Mike Morhaime said that the reason was probably due to a drop-off in the Eastern markets. In 2012, senior producer John Lagrave told Eurogamer that the drop in subscriptions may have also been attributed to the recent release of BioWare's "".
MDY Industries, LLC v. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Blizzard Entertainment created and operates a popular online world game known as World of Warcraft (WoW). WoW is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, in which players control characters and complete a variety of tasks, such as exploring the landscape and performing quests. As players continue to play and succeed in their tasks, their characters gain various talents and skills.
War of the Worlds (video game)
War of the Worlds was a monochrome vector arcade game created by Tim Skelly of Cinematronics in 1982. It is based on the H. G. Wells novel "The War of the Worlds". There were two versions of this game, identical in gameplay but differing in graphics. The first version was released by Cinematronics in 1979, and featured black and white vector graphics. A color version was later made in 1982.
World of Warcraft Trading Card Game
On August 23, 2013, Blizzard Entertainment announced that the TCG would be discontinued, and that they would not be renewing the game's license. In March 2014, Blizzard released "", an online collectible card game featuring many of the same characters, abilities and artwork.
List of esports games
Blizzard's MMO "World of Warcraft" added PvP features to the game after its release, and was received enthusiastically as an eSport. The game was generally phased out of MLG between 2010 and 2011, but Blizzard continues to hold the World of Warcraft Arena Global Invitational annually. The prize pool for the 2013 World of Warcraft Arena Global Invitational totaled over $180,000 and that of the 2014 World of Warcraft Arena Invitational World Championship totaled $250,000.
History of massively multiplayer online games
The most recent generation of MMORPGs, based on arbitrary standards of graphics, gameplay, and popularity, is said to have launched in November 2004 with Sony Online Entertainment's "EverQuest II" and Blizzard Entertainment's "World of Warcraft" ("WoW"). At the time, Sony expected to dominate the market, based on the success of the first "EverQuest", and decided to offer a flat monthly rate to play all of their MMORPGs including "EverQuest", "EverQuest II", and "Star Wars Galaxies", to keep from competing with itself. While "EverQuest II" was a commercial success as predicted, "World of Warcraft" immediately overtook all of these games upon release, and indeed became so popular that it dwarfed all previous monthly-fee MMORPGs. At present, "WoW" is one of the most played games in North America, and the most subscribed to MMORPG worldwide, with a total of over 7 million subscriptions in the middle of 2013. The closest MMORPG to "World of Warcraft" is, in terms of paying subscribers, "RuneScape" with more than one million subscribers and even more free players. "RuneScape" is also the world's largest free MMORPG, though it receives less media attention than "WoW". With the release of these newer games, subscriptions began to decline for many older MMORPGs, even the year-old "Lineage II", and in particular "Everquest". The current MMORPG market has "World of Warcraft" in a position similar to the position of Dungeons & Dragons in the tabletop RPG market, with both games' market share being greater than 50% of the overall market.
World of Warcraft
To mark the release of "Hearthstone", Blizzard released the Hearthsteed mount for "World of Warcraft" players. The mount is obtained through winning three games in Arena or Play mode. Widely advertised on various "World of Warcraft" websites, this promotion encourages "World of Warcraft" players to try "Hearthstone" and marked the first significant crossover implemented between Blizzard games.
World of Warcraft
In Brazil, "World of Warcraft" was released on December 6, 2011 via BattleNet. The first three expansions are currently available, fully translated, including voice acting, into Brazilian Portuguese.
Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game
In 2005, White Wolf Publishing released a second edition of the game rules and renamed the series World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game to tie in with the success of "World of Warcraft".
War World (video game)
War World: Tactical Combat (also known as simply War World) is a 3D mech combat simulator game developed and published by Australian company Third Wave Games (who are made up of former Rare alumni who have been involved in the development of such games as "Banjo Kazooie", "Donkey Kong 64", and others). It was released on Microsoft Windows in 2005, and 2008 for the Xbox Live Arcade service.
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
Blizzard continues to maintain "WarCraft III", regarding technical issues and compatibility for newer operating systems. In April 2018, Blizzard integrated widescreen support for the first time, more than 15 years after the game's first release.
"Warcraft III" was the first Blizzard game to be rendered using 3D graphics. Unlike other 3D games of that era, this included all parts of the game, including the menu screens. All characters, including environment units like sheep, have their own 3D portraits when selected that animate when the unit is talking. The game does not use mission briefings like its predecessor but instead tells the story using cutscenes rendered using the game's 3D engine. These cutscenes show the characters using a side-view camera, zooming in to the models. Additionally, each campaign features pre-rendered cinematics that show the outcome of the campaign.
Warcraft: Orcs &amp; Humans
The game was released in November 1994. Although reviews did not appear until months later, in "Dragon" Paul Murphy described the game as "great fun – absorbing and colorful," and Scott Love praised its solid strategy, simple interface and fantasy theme. "Warcraft: Orcs & Humans" won "PC Gamer"’s Editors' Choice Award, "Computer Life"’s Critics' Pick and the Innovations Award at the Consumer Electronics Show, Winter 1995. It was a finalist for "Computer Gaming World"’s Premier award, "PC Gamer"’s Strategy Game of the Year and the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences's Best Strategy award. In 1996, "Computer Gaming World" declared "Warcraft" the 125th-best computer game ever released.
World of Warcraft
"World of Warcraft" won several awards from critics upon release, including "Editor's Choice" awards. In addition, it won several annual awards from the media, being described as the best game in the role-playing and MMORPG genres. The graphics and audio were also praised in the annual awards, with the cartoonish style and overall sound makeup being noted. The game was also awarded "Best Mac OS X Entertainment Product" at the 2005 Apple Design Awards. "Computer Games Magazine" named "World of Warcraft" the best computer game of 2004, and the magazine's Steve Bauman described his "feeling that Blizzard has analyzed every element of every existing game, pulled out the best ones, and then lovingly lavished an absurd amount of attention to their implementation." It also won the magazine's "Best Art Direction", "Best Original Music" and "Best Interface" awards.
Order &amp; Chaos Online
Order and Chaos Online is a fantasy MMORPG video game developed by Gameloft's Beijing studio for Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone, iOS, and Android devices. The game was released for iOS on April 27, 2011, for Android on June 27, 2012, and for Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone on July 10, 2013. A successor titled "" was released in Fall 2015. The game is heavily inspired by World of Warcraft.
Warlock: Master of the Arcane
Warlock: Master of the Arcane is a 4X turn-based strategy video game developed by 1C:Ino-Co Plus and published by Paradox Interactive. It was released for Microsoft Windows on 8 May 2012. A sequel, "", was released in 2014.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
Shortly after the announcement of the release date, on October 12, 2010, Blizzard implemented patch 4.0.1, which included the overhaul of the game's playing systems.
World of Warcraft
"World of Warcraft" was the world's most popular MMORPG by player count of nearly 10 million in 2009. The game had a total of over a hundred million registered accounts by 2014. By 2017, the game had grossed over in revenue, making it one of the highest-grossing video game franchises of all time. At BlizzCon 2017, a "classic" version of the game was announced, which is planned to provide a way to experience the base game before any of its expansions launched. Blizzard announced at BlizzCon 2018 that "WoW Classic" will be released in the summer of 2019, and will be included with the standard subscription.
Warcraft: Orcs &amp; Humans
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is a real-time strategy game (RTS), developed by Blizzard Entertainment and published by Blizzard and Interplay Productions. The MS-DOS version was released on 23 November 1994 and the Macintosh version in early 1996.
Warcraft: Orcs &amp; Humans
While later "...craft" games were famous for complex stories presented lavishly, the first installment of the series had no script and was improvised in the recording studio by producer Bill Roper. The contract composer Gregory Alper wrote music that Blizzard staff found reminiscent of Holst's "The Planets". Demos in summer 1994 whetted appetites for the completed game, released for MS-DOS in November 1994 and for the Macintosh in 1996. The game was published by Blizzard in North America and by Interplay Entertainment in Europe, and Sold-Out Software republished the MS-DOS version in March 2002.
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is a science fiction real-time strategy video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. It was released worldwide in July 2010 for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. A sequel to the 1998 video game "StarCraft" and its expansion set "", the game is split into three installments: the base game with the subtitle "Wings of Liberty", an expansion pack "", and a stand-alone expansion pack "". In March of 2016, a campaign pack called was also released.
World of Warcraft
The "World of Warcraft" launcher (referred to in press releases and the menu bar as the "Blizzard Launcher") is a program designed to act as a starting point for "World of Warcraft" players. It provides a way to launch "World of Warcraft" and starts the Blizzard updater. It was first included with the version 1.8.3 patch. The 2.1.0 patch allowed for an option to bypass the use of the launcher. Features of the launcher include news and updates for "World of Warcraft" players, access to "World of Warcraft"s support website, access to the test version of "World of Warcraft" when it is available to test upcoming patches, updates to Warden, and updates to the updater itself. The 3.0.8 patch redesigned the launcher and added the ability to change the game settings from the launcher itself. The launcher update from patch 4.0.1 also allows people to play the game while non-crucial pieces of the game are downloaded. This requires a high-speed broadband internet connection.
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."
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
In 1999 Blizzard published the "Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition" for Windows and Mac, which combined the original game and the expansion pack, retained the Macintosh facilities and replaced the DOS version with a Windows version that included Blizzard's online service, Battle.net, for multiplayer games. After considering new content, Blizzard preferred to make it easy for new and older fans to play each other. "Battle.net Edition" included some user interface enhancements from "StarCraft" – a hot key to center on events, assigning numbers to groups of units, and double-clicking to select all units of a type. However they excluded production queues and waypoints.
World of Warplanes
World of Warplanes is a free-to-play flight combat massively multiplayer online (MMO) action game developed by Persha Studia in Ukraine and published by Wargaming in Belarus, set in the Golden Age of military aviation. The game was released on November 12, 2013 in CIS countries, and on November 13, 2013 in North America and in Europe.
StarCraft (video game)
Despite the progress, "StarCraft" was slow to emerge. The continual delays inspired a group of "StarCraft" fans on the official forums who labeled themselves "Operation: Can't Wait Any Longer" to write a series of fictional stories in which the members of Operation CWAL attempted to retrieve the beta version of "StarCraft" from Blizzard's headquarters in Irvine, California. To pay homage to their presence on the forums and enthusiasm for the game, Blizzard Entertainment later incorporated the group's name into "StarCraft" as a cheat code to speed up the production of units and gave the group thanks in the game's credits. The game was released for Windows on March 31, 1998, with the Classic Mac OS version following a year later in 1999. Development on a Nintendo 64 version, "StarCraft 64", began in 1999, converted from PC by Mass Media Interactive Entertainment—a subsidiary of THQ—and published by Nintendo. "StarCraft 64" was released on June 13, 2000 in the USA and Europe. It was also released in Australia on May 25, 2001.
The musical score to "StarCraft" was composed by Blizzard Entertainment's composers. Glenn Stafford composed the Terran and Protoss in-game themes, while Derek Duke, who was a contracted composer at the time, wrote all the in-game music for the Zerg. The cinematic scores were composed by Stafford and Hayes. Hayes also collaborated with Stafford on one of the Protoss in-game tracks. Tracy W. Bush provided additional support in composing. The musical score of the game was received well by reviewers, who have described it as "appropriately melodic and dark" and "impressive", with one reviewer noting that some of the music owed much of its inspiration to Jerry Goldsmith's score for the film "Alien". The first official game soundtrack, "StarCraft: Game Music Vol. 1", was released in 2000, comprising tracks from both "StarCraft" and "", as well as a sizable portion of remix tracks and music inspired by "StarCraft", created by several South Korean disc jockeys. The soundtrack was distributed by Net Vision Entertainment. In September 2008, Blizzard Entertainment announced that a second soundtrack, "StarCraft Original Soundtrack", had been released on iTunes. This soundtrack consisted entirely of the original music from "StarCraft" and "Brood War", both from in-game themes to music used in the cinematic cut scenes.
Warcraft (film)
Warcraft (alternatively known as Warcraft: The Beginning) is a 2016 American action fantasy film directed by Duncan Jones and written by Charles Leavitt and Jones. Based on the video game series of the same name, the film stars Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Ben Schnetzer, Robert Kazinsky, Clancy Brown and Daniel Wu. The film portrays the initial encounters between the humans and the orcs and takes place in a variety of locations established in the video game series.
Warhammer: Mark of Chaos
Warhammer: Mark of Chaos is a real-time tactics game set in the "Warhammer" universe. It was developed by Black Hole Entertainment and co-published by Namco Bandai Games in the US and Deep Silver in PAL territories. The game was released for Microsoft Windows in the US on November 14, 2006, with subsequent release in PAL territories on November 23, 2006.
Call of Duty: World at War
"Call of Duty: World at War" was released for the Nintendo DS on November 11, 2008 in North America, and on November 14 in Europe. It was published by Activision and developed by n-Space, who used the same game engine as their previous title, "". The game's scenarios are also based on World War II's Pacific theater and Eastern front with American, British and Soviet campaigns. Up to four players can be supported online with four different types of game, as well as perks and rank-ups. Compared to "Modern Warfare", it has improved in-level geometry, has more responsive sprints and crouches and 3D-modeled guns instead of 2D sprites. However the flamethrower, which is new to the game series, is rendered with 2D sprites. The framerate is just under 30 and has lots of voice-over during the missions. Players are able to defuse mines and send Morse code with the touch screen, as well as using mortar rounds, an anti-air gun from a battleship, parachuting and using mounted guns. There is also a tank mode which allows the player to turn the main gun and fire machine gun rounds at the same time.
World of Warcraft
In China, because a large number of players do not own the computer on which they play games (e.g. if they play in Internet cafés), the CD keys required to create an account can be purchased independently of the software package. To play the game, players must also purchase prepaid game cards that can be played for 66 hours and 40 minutes. A monthly fee model is not available to players of this region. The Chinese government and NetEase, the licensee for "World of Warcraft" in China, have imposed a modification on Chinese versions of the game which places flesh on bare-boned skeletons and transforms dead character corpses into tidy graves. These changes were imposed by the Chinese government in an attempt to "promote a healthy and harmonious online game environment" in "World of Warcraft". The Chinese government has delayed the release of the "Wrath of the Lich King" expansion, due to what it feels is objectionable content. NetEase took over licensing of "World of Warcraft" from The9 in June 2009 following the expiration of The9's contract, and were able to secure a launch for "Wrath of the Lich King" on August 31, 2010, nearly two years after its Western release.
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
Many of the characters, locations and concepts introduced in "Warcraft III" and its expansion went on to play major roles in Blizzard's "World of Warcraft", released in 2004. They also appeared in other Blizzard games, such as "Hearthstone". In October 2018, "Comic Book Resources" listed four characters introduced in "Warcraft III" in their list of the Top 25 most iconic characters ever created by Blizzard, including Illidan Stormrage at #1 and Jaina Proudmoore at #3.
Warcraft III in esports
The expansion to the computer game "", known as "", had an active professional competition scene, particularly in China, Germany, and South Korea. The game was featured at eSports festivals including the World Cyber Games, the Electronic Sports World Cup, the World e-Sports Games, the World Series of Video Games and the International E-Sports Festival. Outside of the professional circuit, the game had many active competitive circuits, with users at Battle.net ranging between the 70,000 and 100,000 at any given moment. In China, in which "Warcraft III" was extremely popular due to it being easily available through piracy, fans and users often used an alternative client due to the country's poor internet connections to the outside world. Around 3,000,000 copies of the game were sold in the country. 500,000 Chinese competed in the Chinese qualifiers for the 2006 World Cyber Games. The amount of prize money through the years has been significant with top players winning hundreds of thousands of dollars. As usual in competitive gaming, income for "Warcraft 3" professional players flowed from various sources like team salaries from pro-gaming teams and sponsorships usually computer technology related. A famous example was Danish gaming organization known as Meet Your Makers which boasted of paying their players 300,000 on an annual basis. Similar to older games with huge competitive scenes like Starcraft:Brood War and "Counter-Strike 1.6", the popularity of "Warcraft 3" steadily declined and towards the end of the previous decade almost all tournaments and players were Chinese. After 2010, with "Starcraft 2", "League of Legends", and "Dota 2" being released and becoming popular, "Warcraft 3" gave up its position as one of the prime eSports titles.There have been various Warcraft III world championships, see Warcraft III World Championships for an overview.
World of Warcraft
Seven expansions have been released: "", released in January 2007; "", released in November 2008; "", released in December 2010; "", released in September 2012; "", released in November 2014; "", released in August 2016; and , released in August 2018. Players are not required to purchase expansions in order to continue playing; however, new content and features such as higher level caps and new areas may not be available until they do so.
Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans
"Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans" was a graphic adventure game with a point-and-click interface, which the player would have used to navigate the world, collect items, solve puzzles and interact with non-player characters. It was set in the "Warcraft" universe two years after the events of "". In that game, the human Alliance defeats the orc Horde, which is then split between Azeroth—the human plane—and the orc homeworld of Draenor. In "Warcraft Adventures", the defeated orcs left on Azeroth were confined to reservations and reduced to slavery. Alcoholism and passivity spread among them. The player assumed the role of Thrall, an orc raised from infancy as a slave by the human Lieutenant Blackmoore, who had found Thrall on a battleground during the events of "". Blackmoore kept Thrall from encountering other orcs throughout his early life, and sought to raise him as a pawn to rally the orcs as his personal military and conquer Azeroth.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
On October 4, 2010 Blizzard officially announced the release of Cataclysm for December 7, 2010. The expansion was made available as Standard Edition, Collectors Edition and as a new digital download from the Blizzard Online Store. The digital version of the game has been made available for pre-purchase through Battle.net, and gives gamers the opportunity to play the new expansion pack the moment the servers go live (at 12:01am PST, December 7).
World of Warcraft
Blizzard routinely applies older expansions to all accounts as new expansions are released. On June 28, 2011, "The Burning Crusade" expansion was automatically applied to all previous "Warcraft" accounts at no cost. On September 19, 2012, the same thing was done with the "Wrath of the Lich King" expansion, and on October 15, 2013 the "Cataclysm" expansion was also applied. On October 15, 2014, "Mists of Pandaria" was applied to all accounts following the release of Warlords. On May 17, 2016, "Warlords of Draenor" was applied to all accounts to coincide with the release of the Warcraft movie that gives a 30-day trial of the game.
All "The Burning Crusade", "Wrath of the Lich King", "Cataclysm", "Mists of Pandaria" and "Warlords of Draenor" content is now effectively part of the original game, with all new "World of Warcraft" accounts automatically including these expansions upon creation. As of the pre-patch release of "Battle for Azeroth" in July 2018, all expansions up to "Legion" are included in the base game.
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria is the fourth expansion set for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) "World of Warcraft", following "". It was announced on October 21, 2011, by Chris Metzen at BlizzCon 2011, and was released on September 25, 2012.
World of Warcraft: Beyond the Dark Portal
World of Warcraft: Beyond the Dark Portal is a fantasy novel written by Aaron S. Rosenberg and Christie Golden, and published by Simon & Schuster Pocket Star Books, a division of Viacom. The novel is based on Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft universe, and is a continuation of the events of the RTS PC game: (1995).
Gameplay of World of Warcraft
In a change from the previous "Warcraft" games produced by Blizzard, "World of Warcraft" is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) where thousands of players can interact with each other. Despite this change, the game draws many similarities with its predecessors. These include using the same setting of the world of Azeroth as well as following a similar art direction. In common with many MMORPGs, "World of Warcraft" requires players to pay for a subscription, usually either by credit card or by buying a card from a retailer to redeem for a predetermined amount of subscription time; in addition, game time may be acquired from using in-game gold to buy a WoW Token.
World of Warcraft
When new content is added to the game, official system requirements may change. In version 1.12.0 the requirements for Windows were increased from requiring 256 MB to 512 MB of RAM. Official Windows 98 technical support was dropped, but the game continued to run there until version 2.2.3. Before Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft will officially drop support for Windows 2000.
Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans
Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans was a graphic adventure game under development by Blizzard Entertainment and Animation Magic from 1996 until its cancellation in 1998. Set in the "Warcraft" universe after the events of "", it followed the orc character Thrall in his quest to reunite his race, then living on reservations and in slavery following its defeat by the human Alliance. Assuming the role of Thrall, the player would have used a point-and-click interface to explore the world, solve puzzles and interact with characters from the wider "Warcraft" series.
StarCraft
Blizzard Entertainment began planning "StarCraft" in 1995, with a development team led by Metzen and Phinney. The game debuted at E3 1996, and used a modified "" game engine. "StarCraft" also marked the creation of Blizzard Entertainment's film department; the game introduced high quality cinematics integral to the storyline of the series. Most of the original development team for "StarCraft" returned to work on the game's expansion pack, ""; the game's development began shortly after "StarCraft" was released. In 2001, "" began development under Nihilistic Software. Unlike the previous real-time strategy games in the series, "Ghost" was to be a stealth-action game. After three years of development, work on the game was postponed in 2004. Development of "" began in 2003; the game was announced in May 2007 and was released in July 2010. The "StarCraft II" franchise continued with the "" expansion, which was released in March 2013. The third "StarCraft II" installment, "", released in November 2015.
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
On April 8, 2010, Blizzard announced that the game would be available in a standard and collector's edition. The game was made available for digital download from Blizzard on the release date; pre-loading began on July 15. The collector's edition comes with an artbook, 2 GB flash drive modeled after Jim Raynor's dog tag with the original "StarCraft" and "Brood War" expansion preloaded, behind-the-scenes DVD, soundtrack, comic book, unique avatar portraits, a unique model for the in-game Thor unit in multiplayer, and a "World of Warcraft" pet.
Collectible card game
The previous years influx of new CCGs continued into 2006. Riding on the success of the popular PC Game "World of Warcraft", Blizzard Entertainment licensed Upper Deck to publish a TCG based on the game. The "World of Warcraft" TCG was born and was carried by major retailers but saw limited success until it was discontinued in 2013 prior to the release of Blizzard's digital card game "Hearthstone". Following previous trends, Japanese-influenced CCGs continued to enter the market. These games were either based on cartoons or manga and included: "Naruto", "", "Bleach", "Rangers Strike" and the classic series "Robotech". "Dragon Ball GT" was rebooted once again in 2008 and renamed as "Dragon Ball".
Wowpedia
Wowpedia is a wiki about the "Warcraft" fictional universe. It covers all of the "Warcraft" games, including the MMORPG "World of Warcraft". It is both a specialized wiki built around the "Warcraft" universe and a collaborative space for players to develop and publish strategies for "Warcraft" games. It was officially announced on 25 October 2010.
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
In 1996, Blizzard released an expansion pack "" for DOS and Mac OS, and a compilation "Warcraft II: The Dark Saga" for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. The Battle.net Edition, released in 1999, provided Blizzard's online gaming service, Battle.net, and replaced the MS-DOS version with a Windows one.
Warcraft: War of the Ancients Trilogy
Warcraft: War of the Ancients Trilogy is a book trilogy written by Richard A. Knaak set in Blizzard Entertainment's popular video game universe, Warcraft.
Virtual economy
The release of Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft in 2004 and its subsequent huge success across the globe has forced both MMORPGs and their secondary markets into mainstream consciousness, and many new market places have opened up during this time. A search for WoW Gold on Google will show a multitude of sites (more than 90 sponsored results ) from which Gold can be purchased. Real money commerce in a virtual market has grown to become a multibillion-dollar industry. In 2001, EverQuest players Brock Pierce and Alan Debonneville founded "Internet Gaming Entertainment Ltd (IGE)", a company that offered not only the virtual commodities in exchange for real money but also provided professional customer service. "IGE" had a trained staff that would handle financial issues, customer inquiries and technical support to ensure that gamers are satisfied with each real money purchase. It also took advantage of the global reach of synthetic worlds by setting up a shop in Hong Kong where a small army of technically savvy but low wage workers could field orders, load up avatars, retrieve store goods and deliver them wherever necessary. This lucrative market has opened a whole new type of economy where the border between the real and the virtual is obscure.
World of Warcraft
Starting with 4.3, players could try out an experimental 64-bit version of the client, which required manual downloading and copying files into the installation folder. Since 5.0, the 64-bit client is automatically installed, and used by default.
Upper Deck Company
In February 2010, Blizzard Entertainment ended its licensing deal with Upper Deck. Upper Deck had previously produced the World of Warcraft trading card game.
Warhawk (1995 video game)
Warhawk, released as AirAssault in Japan, is a futuristic arcade-style flight-combat game for the Sony PlayStation console, developed by SingleTrac and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was originally released on November 10, 1995 in North America and a month later in Europe. It was later re-released as part of Sony's "Greatest Hits" line-up.
Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans
A Russian fan under the pseudonym "MAN-Biker" leaked gameplay footage of "Warcraft Adventures" via a YouTube video in 2010. According to "PC Gamer US", he had received his copy from a Russian game developer in the late 2000s, although this developer had not personally worked on "Warcraft Adventures". After the video's deletion, MAN-Biker posted a beginning-to-end longplay of the game in 2014. However, this version of the game lacked cutscenes. A complete, playable "Warcraft Adventures", including its cutscenes, was leaked online by a Russian Blizzard fan with the screen name "reidor" on September 9, 2016. Reidor told "PC Gamer US" that he had been sent the files by an unnamed third party. Soon after, the version shown in MAN-Biker's videos was leaked as well. Chris Higgins of PCGamesN speculated that these copies of the game derived from employees at Animation Magic's Russian office. Blizzard responded with takedown notices to reidor and peer-to-peer file sharing websites that hosted the game, but Wes Fenlon remarked, "By then, of course, it was too late."
World of Warcraft
"World of Warcraft" takes place in a 3D representation of the "Warcraft" universe that players can interact with through their characters. The game world initially consisted of the two continents in Azeroth: Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. Four separate expansions later added to the game's playable area the realms of Outland and Draenor and the continents of Northrend and Pandaria. As a player explores new locations, different routes and means of transportation become available. Players can access "flight masters" in newly discovered locations to fly to previously discovered locations in other parts of the world. Players can also use boats, zeppelins, or portals to move from one continent to another. Although the game world remains relatively similar from day to day, seasonal events reflecting real world events, such as Halloween, Christmas, Children's Week, Easter, and Midsummer have been represented in the game world. Locations also have variable weather including, among other things, rain, snow, and dust storms.
Firefall (video game)
Red 5 Studios was an American computer game company that was known for its high ratio of former employees of Blizzard Entertainment. The founders previously worked on "World of Warcraft". Mark Kern was a team lead, William Petras was art director, and Taewon Yun was part of the company's Korean operation which oversaw the launch of "World of Warcraft" in Asia. The company's only game release was "Firefall".
Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans
Blizzard struggled to adapt to the adventure genre during development, and the slowness of the international production pipeline became a major problem for the team. Unhappy with the game's progress, Blizzard delayed "Warcraft Adventures" past its original release date of late 1997 and hired game designer Steve Meretzky to revise the project in February 1998. This resulted in a plan to edit and improve the game with minimal changes to its art: "Warcraft Adventures" was already near completion, and deadline and budget restrictions prevented a major redesign. Meretzky's plan went largely unused, as an internal review at Blizzard determined that its implementation would lead to excessive delays. Instead, the developer chose to cancel the project in May 1998, after roughly 18 months of work.
Age of Empires (video game)
Originally touted as "Civilization" meets "Warcraft", some reviewers felt that the game failed to live up to these expectations when it was released. Despite this, it received generally good reviews, and an expansion pack, titled "", was released in 1998. Both the original "Age of Empires" and the expansion pack were later released as "The Gold Edition". A sequel, "Age of Empires II", was released in 1999. "Age of Empires: Definitive Edition", a remastered version of the game, was released on February 20, 2018.
Gameplay of World of Warcraft
The game of "World of Warcraft", or "WoW", is set in a fictional world known as Azeroth and in the expansion extended the game to another world called Outland. The expansion added Northrend, the frigid northern continent of Azeroth. In the expansion , the classic continents of Azeroth were drastically changed as some zones were destroyed and new ones were unveiled. The expansion added the southern continent, previously hidden behind a perennial mist cover, Pandaria. The expansion, added Draenor, which is an Outland was before its partial destruction. The expansion adds the Broken Isles, an island chain near the Maelstrom in the middle of the Great Sea, and the damaged planet Argus, the headquarters of the Burning Legion. The latest expansion adds 2 new continents to the center of the map of Azeroth and introduces 8 new races called Allied Races.
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne is the expansion pack for "", a real-time strategy video game by Blizzard Entertainment. It was released worldwide on July 1, 2003 for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. "The Frozen Throne" builds upon the story of "Reign of Chaos" and depicts the events after the main game's conclusion. The single-player unfolds from the perspective of two new protagonists—the Night Elf warden Maiev Shadowsong and the Blood Elf prince Kael'Thas—as well as returning protagonist Arthas Menethil. Additionally, the expansion contains Act I of a separate Orc campaign that is independent from the main storyline with Blizzard releasing Acts II and III via patch in December 2003, taking in player feedback of Act I when developing these chapters.
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.
Blizzard Entertainment
Shortly thereafter, Blizzard released "". Blizzard created several other video games, including "Warcraft" sequels, the "Diablo" series, the "StarCraft" series, and in 2004 the massively multiplayer online role-playing game "World of Warcraft". Their most recent projects include the first expansion for "Diablo III", "", the online collectible card game "Hearthstone," the seventh expansion for "World of Warcraft", "", the multiplayer online battle arena "Heroes of the Storm," the third and final expansion for "", "", and the multiplayer first-person hero shooter "Overwatch".
World of Warcraft
"World of Warcraft" has inspired two board games: "" (including "Shadow of War" and "The Burning Crusade" expansions) and "World of Warcraft: The Adventure Game", produced by Fantasy Flight Games. There is also a trading card game, and a collectible miniatures game on the market, both formerly produced by Upper Deck Entertainment, now produced by Cryptozoic Entertainment. Cryptozoic released an "Archives" set which contains foil reproductions of older cards produced by Upper Deck. In August 2012, Megabloks launched a licensed line of World of Warcraft 'building block' toys based on the game scenes, scenarios and characters. In March 2014, "" was released, which is a free-to-play digital card game based on the Warcraft universe, using classes similar to World of Warcraft.
Chun Jung-hee
After the release of "Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos" in 2002 Jung Hee Chun rose to quickly be noticed as one of the strongest players in the South Korean scene, which was at the time known as the most competitive gaming scene in the world.
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is the second expansion set for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) "World of Warcraft", following "". It launched on November 13, 2008 and sold 2.8 million copies within the first day, making it the fastest selling computer game of all time released at that point. The game added a substantial amount of new content into the game world, including the new continent of Northrend, home of the eponymous Lich King and his undead minions. In order to advance through Northrend, players are required to reach at least level 68 and the level cap for the expansion is 80. The first hero class was introduced, the Death Knight, that starts at level 55.
Warcraft
In a May 9, 2006 press release, Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures announced that they would develop a live-action film set in the Warcraft universe. At BlizzCon 2008, according to Mike Morhaime, a script was being written. In January 2013, Duncan Jones was announced to direct the adaptation, from a script by Charles Leavitt. The film was set to begin principal photography in early 2014 with a plot based on the novel "". On July 20, 2013, Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Entertainment unveiled a sizzle reel during their San Diego Comic Con 2013 panel, with Duncan Jones hopping on stage briefly to discuss the project. Production on the film started shooting on January 13, 2014. The first full-length trailer for the film was released on November 6, 2015. "Warcraft" premiered in Los Angeles on June 6, 2016, and was released by Universal Pictures in the United States on June 10, 2016. It received mostly negative reviews from critics, and grossed $433 million.
StarCraft
"" is the official sequel to "StarCraft" released for Windows and Mac OS X by Blizzard Entertainment on July 27, 2010. The game was announced at the Worldwide Invitational in South Korea on May 19, 2007 with a pre-rendered cinematic cut scene trailer and a gameplay demonstration of the Protoss. Further demonstrations regarding the game's new features have been showcased at subsequent Blizzcons and other games conventions. The game incorporates a new 3D graphics engine and adds new features such as the Havok physics engine. "StarCraft II" also incorporates DirectX 10 level effects in Windows. Originally envisioned as a single game, "StarCraft II" was split into three parts during development, one for focusing on each race. The base game, "Wings of Liberty", follows the Terrans, while two expansion packs, "Heart of the Swarm" and "Legacy of the Void" have been released to complement "Wings of Liberty" and further the story from the views of the Zerg and Protoss, respectively. The story of "Wings of Liberty" continues from four years after the conclusion of "Brood War", and revolves around Jim Raynor's struggles against the Terran Dominion.
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
On September 19, 2012, the "Wrath of the Lich King" expansion was completely merged with the original "World of Warcraft" game, just as the "Burning Crusade" expansion was the previous year. Now all players who purchase the original game automatically receive "The Burning Crusade" and "Wrath of the Lich King" at no additional cost. This merging of the expansions with the original game is called a "Battle Chest".
Gameplay of World of Warcraft
"World of Warcraft" takes place in a 3D-representation of the Warcraft universe that players can interact with through their characters. The game features five continents on the world of Azeroth, as well as the realm of Outland that was added in the expansion "The Burning Crusade". "Warlords Of Draenor" introduced the realm of Draenor, an altered past of Outland. The second expansion, "Wrath of the Lich King", added a third continent, Northrend . to Azeroth, and in "Mists of Pandaria" a fourth continent, Pandaria, was added. In , they introduce the Broken Isles. In this game world, players use their characters to explore locations, defeat creatures and complete quests. By doing this, characters gain experience points. After a set amount of experience points have been gained, a character gains a level, giving new skills or abilities and making it possible to explore new areas and attempt new quests. As a player explores new locations, a number of transport shortcuts become available. Players can discover 'flight masters' in newly discovered locations and then use those NPCs in order to fly to previously discovered locations in other parts of the world. Players can also use facilities such as boats and zeppelins in order to move from one of the continents on Azeroth to the other. Players can communicate with each other using text-based chat, separated into different channels for ease of use. When a player instructs their character to yell or say something, a chat bubble appears above their head containing the spoken words in a similar way to a comic book image.
World of Warcraft
The soundtrack for "World of Warcraft" was composed and arranged by Jason Hayes, Tracy W. Bush, Derek Duke, and Glenn Stafford and conducted by Eímear Noone. It was released on November 23, 2004, together with the collector's edition of the game. It is sold separately on one CD in the MP3 format. On January 12, 2011, Alfred Publishing produced an officially licensed sheet music series for vocalists, pianists, strings, and other instruments, "World of Warcraft Sheet Music Anthology" in solo and accompaniment formats with CD. These works include four pages of collectible artwork and vary by number of songs included. In 2018, a remix of the song from the game, "Hymn of the Firstborn Son", was nominated for "Best Game Music Cover/Remix" at the 16th Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards.
Warcraft (film)
"Warcraft" was released on digital download on September 13, 2016, and was released on Blu-ray, Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and DVD on September 22, 2016, in Australia and on September 27 in the United States and Canada. Select editions of the physical release include a digital copy of "World of Warcraft" along with digital bonus codes for other Blizzard games to tie-in with the film.
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."
World of Warcraft: Tides of Darkness
"" is the sequel to the popular real-time strategy game "", developed by Blizzard Entertainment and released in December 1995.
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
Mike Morhaime, president of Blizzard, announced during the opening ceremony of Blizzcon 2009 that "StarCraft II" and the new Battle.net platform would both be released in 2010, with an approximately one-month gap between releases. As of March 2010, Blizzard had stated that the new platform was being tested outside the beta and was planned for release in early July 2010, for both "StarCraft II" and "", with a later upgrade for "Diablo III". On May 5, 2010, it was revealed that "StarCraft II" and Battle.net 2.0 would be integrated with social networking site Facebook, "linking the world's premier online gaming platform with the world's most popular social platform"—a move that allowed gamers to search among their Facebook friends for "StarCraft II" opponents. "Wired" magazine, in its annual Vaporware Award, ranked "StarCraft II" first among the delayed technology products of 2009. "StarCraft II" was finally released on July 27, 2010, with launch parties in selected cities of countries around the world. Customers and reviewers who received the installation DVD before the July 27 release were greeted with an error screen, telling them to wait until the release date. There was no known workaround and some reviewers had praised the action for limiting journalists to playing and reviewing the game with actual players.
Sam Raimi's unrealized projects
On July 22, 2009, Blizzard Entertainment reported that Raimi was hired to direct a film adaptation of its popular video game "Warcraft" entitled "World of Warcraft". However, on July 13, 2012, it was announced that Raimi would not direct the "Warcraft" film because he was working on "Oz the Great and Powerful" and he needed to finish its post-production. The film was finally released in 2016 as "Warcraft" and directed by Duncan Jones.
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Microsoft Windows and macOS, which released on June 2, 2015. The game features heroes from Blizzard's franchises including "Warcraft", "Diablo", "StarCraft", "The Lost Vikings", and "Overwatch". The game uses both free-to-play and freemium models and is supported by micropayments, which can be used to purchase heroes, visual alterations for the heroes in the game, and mounts. Blizzard does not call the game a "multiplayer online battle arena" or an "action real-time strategy" because they feel it is something different with a broader playstyle; they refer to it as an online "hero brawler". At the end of 2018, Blizzard announced that game was being transitioned to a long-term support plan, with some staff members moved to other projects and its official tournament circuit cancelled.
Real-time strategy
RTS World tournaments have been held for both "StarCraft" and "Warcraft III" since their 1998 and 2002 releases. The games have been so successful that some players have earned over $200,000 at the "Warcraft III World Championships". In addition, hundreds of "" tournaments are held yearly, as it is becoming an increasingly popular branch of e-sports. Notable tournaments include MLG, GSL, and Dreamhack. RTS tournaments are especially popular in South Korea.
World of Warcraft: Rise of the Horde
World of Warcraft: Rise of the Horde is a novel by Christie Golden set in the Warcraft Universe. It was published in December 2006. Golden also has a commitment with Blizzard Entertainment and Simon & Schuster to write a StarCraft trilogy. Originally presumed to be the sequel to her previous 2001 book, , it depicts the draenei's escape from Argus and the rise of the Horde, following their shift from a shamanic race to a warmongering one. The book features major Warcraft characters, such as Durotan, Ner'zhul, Gul'dan, Orgrim Doomhammer, Kil'jaeden, and Velen. The story tells of how the orc clans and the noble draenei slowly become enemies due to deception and arrogance, and shows the downward spiral into which the orcs are thrown, and explores the role that demonic forces play in the Horde. It also expands on the origin of the Burning Legion, and the events preceding the first game of the Warcraft series.
EverQuest
After these side projects, the first proper sequel was released in late 2004, titled simply "EverQuest II" . The game is set 500 years after the original. "EverQuest II" faced severe competition from Blizzard's "World of Warcraft", which was released at virtually the same time and quickly grew to dominate the MMORPG genre.
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
According to Pardo, Mike O'Brien, the game's lead programmer, originally planned a strategy game—tentatively titled "Warcraft Legends"—with few units to command, over-the-shoulder camera and no base building. However, after a year of work this concept did not work out and the existing framework was used to create "Warcraft III" instead. As a result of these design choices, the first version shown at ECTS 1999 had no notable interface, however it did have portraits for the heroes. In first previews, the game's design and gameplay was therefore compared to games such as "Myth" and "Heroes of Might and Magic". Various articles showed that abilities and items were used via right-click on a unit and an appearing icon collar. In the early stages of development, Blizzard emphasized the role-playing aspect and downplayed base building. Around January 24, 2000 a video from Korea appeared on the Internet; the video showed some aspects of gameplay along with commentary by Pardo. This version already had an interface concept, however most of the interface were placeholders. It had a map, icons for abilities and unit commands and an eye-shaped display for gold. Originally, the game was planned to be released at the end of 2000.
Warcraft
The first three games in the "Warcraft" series, including their expansion packs, were all released on both the PC and Macintosh. All of these games were of the real-time strategy genre. Each game proceeded to carry on the storyline of the previous games, and each introduced new features and content to improve gameplay. "" was the first game in the series to feature play over the internet using Battle.net, although this was not included until a later release of the game. "Warcraft II" was also the first in the series to be re-released as a "Battle Chest", a bundled copy of the game containing both the original and expansion. "" was the first game in the series to feature a Collector's Edition, which all subsequent games have released as well. "Warcraft III" and "World of Warcraft" also have both had "Battle Chests" released for them subsequent to their initial release. The "Battle.net" edition of "Warcraft II" was also the first to introduce the use of CD keys to the series, requiring each user online to have their own copy of the game in order to be able to connect. However, a CD key is not yet required to play via a Local Area Network, although speculation is that future games in the series will do so, as another product in Blizzard Entertainment's portfolio, "", is doing so by removing the option for using LANs altogether, requiring the use of Battle.net.
Simulation
Advances in technology in the 1980s made the computer more affordable and more capable than they were in previous decades, which facilitated the rise of computer such as the Xbox gaming. The first video game consoles released in the 1970s and early 1980s fell prey to the industry crash in 1983, but in 1985, Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) which became one of the best selling consoles in video game history. In the 1990s, computer games became widely popular with the release of such game as "The Sims" and "Command & Conquer" and the still increasing power of desktop computers. Today, computer simulation games such as "World of Warcraft" are played by millions of people around the world.
Role-playing video game
Among the best-selling PC RPGs overall is the massively multiplayer online game "World of Warcraft" with 11.5 million subscribers as of May 2010. Among single player PC RPGs, "Diablo II" has sold the largest amount, with the most recently cited number being over 4 million copies as of 2001. However, copies of the "Diablo: Battle Chest" continued to be sold in retail stores, with the compilation appearing on the NPD Group's top 10 PC games sales, list as recently as 2010. Further, "Diablo: Battle Chest" was the 19th best selling PC game of 2008—a full seven years after the game's initial release; and 11 million users still played "Diablo II" and "StarCraft" over Battle.net in 2010. As a franchise, the "Diablo" series has sold over 20 million copies, not including "Diablo III" which was released for Windows and OS X in 2012.
World of Warcraft
"World of Warcraft" received very positive reviews upon release, following a period of high anticipation before launch. Although the game follows a similar model to—and was noted for using many familiar concepts from—the role-playing genre, the new approaches to reducing pauses between game encounters were well liked. A common example was the approach to character death. In some previous MMORPGs, a player would suffer a high penalty for character death; in "World of Warcraft", a player is able to recover and start playing quickly. Combat was another area where "downtime", or pauses between play, was reduced. By allowing all character types to recover from damage taken, players can return to combat quickly. Reviewers felt that these changes in pacing would make the genre more accessible to casual players—those who play for short periods of time— while still having "deep" gameplay that would attract players of all levels of interest. The concept of a "rested bonus", or increasing the rate at which a player's character gains experience, was also welcomed as a way for players to quickly catch up with their friends in progression.
World of Warcraft
Less than two months after beginning operation of "World of Warcraft" in China on September 19, 2009, NetEase was ordered to immediately stop charging players and to cease accepting registrations. A press estimate indicated that if "World of Warcraft" were shut down in China, the loss of subscribers would have caused Activision Blizzard's earnings to fall from 65 cents per share to 60 cents per share. In April 2008, "World of Warcraft" was estimated to hold 62 percent of the MMORPG subscription market. The game has grossed in revenue, making it one of the highest-grossing video games of all time, along with "Space Invaders", "Pac-Man" and "Street Fighter II".
StarCraft (video game)
"StarCraft" was released internationally on March 31, 1998 and became the best-selling PC game for that year, selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide. In the United States, it was best-selling computer game of 1998, with 746,365 units sold. It was the country's 14th best-selling release of the period between 1993 and 1999, selling 916,000 copies. By April 1999, South Korean players had purchased almost 300,000 units of the game. "StarCraft"s worldwide sales reached 4 million units by July 2001; South Korea accounted for 50% of these copies. By May 2007, "StarCraft" had sold over 9.5 million copies across the globe, with 4.5 million of these being sold in South Korea. Since the initial release of "StarCraft", Blizzard Entertainment reported that its Battle.net online multiplayer service grew by 800 percent.
Warframe
Warframe is a free-to-play cooperative third-person shooter video game developed and published by Digital Extremes. Originally released for Microsoft Windows in March 2013, it was later ported to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. In "Warframe", players control members of the Tenno, a race of ancient warriors who have awoken from centuries of cryosleep to find themselves at war in a planetary system with different factions. The Tenno use their powered Warframes along with powerful weapons and abilities to complete missions. While many of the game's missions use procedurally-generated levels, newer updates have included large open world areas similar to other massively multiplayer online games. The game includes elements of shooting and melee games, parkour, and role-playing to allow players to advance their Tenno character with improved gear.
Hearthstone
Of the game types they explored, Team 5 soon focused on the collectible card game approach, given that many on the team and in Blizzard had played such games since their introduction. The team found it natural to build the card game around the existing "Warcraft" lore; according to production director Jason Chayes, "Warcraft" was already a well-known property, and the depth of characters and locations created for other games in that series made it easy to create cards inspired by those. They also saw that new players to "Warcraft" may be drawn into the other games through playing "Hearthstone". The team was able to pull concepts and art from the pre-existing "World of Warcraft Trading Card Game", first published in 2006 by Upper Deck and later by Cryptozoic Entertainment; when "Hearthstone" was near completion, in 2013, Blizzard terminated its license with Cryptozoic as to favor their pending digital card game. The addition of heroes, an aspect from the previous trading card game, was found to help personalize the game for the player to allow players to discover useful combinations of cards for each hero.
Warcraft (film)
"Warcraft" was set to be released on December 18, 2015, but following the announcement of the coinciding release of "", the release was pushed back to the following year. The film premiered at the Le Grand Rex in Paris on May 24, 2016. It was released in the United Kingdom on May 30, 2016, in the United States on June 10, 2016 and in Australia on June 16, 2016, ten years after the project was first announced.
World of Warships
On September 3, 2015, Wargaming announced that the game had exited open beta. The game was officially launched on September 17, 2015 for Microsoft Windows.
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
After the success of "" (1995) and "" (1996), Blizzard originally planned to continue the story with an point-and-click adventure game called "". This game was supposed to tell the story of Thrall from being raised in captivity to becoming the leader of his clan. However, in 1998, Blizzard canceled "Lord of the Clans" for not meeting the company's quality standards. Thrall's story was instead worked into "Warcraft III", whose development began in early 1998. The game was announced as a role-playing strategy game (RPS) on September 5, 1999, at a press conference by the game's lead designer Rob Pardo inside the Henley-Suite at the European Computer Trade Show 1999.
Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans
"Warcraft Adventures" received significant pre-release attention from the gaming public and press, and the decision to cancel it was met with fan backlash and critical disappointment. Despite the game's cancellation, its story was adapted into the novel "" (2001) by Christie Golden, and was the basis for Blizzard's real-time strategy game "". Elements of the game later influenced "World of Warcraft" and the 2016 film "Warcraft". During the 2010s, leaked gameplay videos of "Warcraft Adventures" were posted on the Internet by Russian fans. A nearly-finished version of the game was released illegally online in September 2016. Reviewing the leaked version, critics generally praised its visuals, but several found its conservative design uninspired.
Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans
Following the end of "Warcraft Adventures" development, Blizzard Entertainment publicly clarified that it would revisit the "Warcraft" universe in the future. In May 1999, the company announced an impending agreement with an unnamed publisher to release three "Warcraft" novels, alongside novelizations of "StarCraft" and "Diablo". The deal was ultimately signed with Pocket Books. Early in the development process for the "Warcraft" book trilogy, Bill Roper hinted that "Warcraft Adventures" story could reappear in one of the novels. This resulted in "" in October 2001, written by Christie Golden and intended to set the stage for "Warcraft III". The book is considered canonical. According to Golden, "Chris Metzen liked the story line and wanted to see it live in some format." Receiving the assignment after its first author had failed to finish it, Golden was given a six-week deadline for "Lord of the Clans", based on a modified version of Metzen's original plot outline from the game. She proceeded to write several other novels for Blizzard because of her enjoyment of this project, among them "", the company's first "New York Times" Best Seller. Blizzard hired her to a full-time position at the company in 2017.
World of Warcraft (comics)
"World of Warcraft: Ashbringer" is a four-issue mini-series that ran from late 2008 to early 2009. It was written by Micky Neilson, with pencils by Ludo Lullabi and inks by Tony Washington.
World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth
World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth is the seventh expansion pack for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) "World of Warcraft", following "". It was announced at BlizzCon on November 3, 2017. In contrast to previous expansions, which went live at midnight in each time zone, "Battle for Azeroth" had a simultaneous release for all regions, corresponding to midnight Central European Summer Time on August 14, 2018.
StarCraft II World Championship Series
The StarCraft II World Championship Series was founded alongside a move to share branding among Blizzard Entertainment's competitive games and tournaments under the name Battle.net World Championship Series, which also included "World of Warcraft" competition. The first year of competition, the 2012 StarCraft II World Championship Series, featured over 30 events including national and continental championships that fed into the grand finals of the year held in Shanghai, China alongside the "World of Warcraft" finals. Events were limited to a few days or weeks of play with nationality-based limitations. This format lead to the series of events being well-viewed but not considered the peak of "StarCraft II" competition, especially all events that featured no Koreans and strict nationality requirements for players of the respective nationality or continent.
Homeworld: Cataclysm
Homeworld: Cataclysm was originally developed in 2000 as an expansion of "Homeworld", but was released as a stand-alone game. It was published by Sierra Studios, as was the original, but it was developed by Barking Dog Studios. The game reappeared on the gaming website GOG.com in June 2017 as Homeworld: Emergence, as the name "Cataclysm" was trade marked by Blizzard Entertainment for its to "World of Warcraft".
Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans
After his week at Blizzard's main office, Meretzky returned to Massachusetts and finished the job remotely. His time on "Warcraft Adventures" ultimately totaled around two weeks. Soon after his visit, Wooley reported that Blizzard had enjoyed its work with him and might hire him again. Roper later echoed this praise for Meretzky's contributions, which he said left the game with "a much, much stronger series of puzzles that tied in much better to the storyline." Meretzky also signed Roper's copy of "Superhero League of Hoboken" during the period. In 2016, Meretzky stated that even the planned revisions to "Warcraft Adventures" would have resulted in an average adventure game. However, he enjoyed the title's story and voice acting, and its core idea of rendering the "Warcraft" universe in finer and more intimate detail. Despite Meretzky's redesign, Blizzard did not initially project a delay for the game, which remained set for a summer 1998 launch.
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
In the middle of January 2002, Blizzard shipped out 5000 beta versions of "Warcraft III" to randomly selected testers in order to help improve it before being released in stores. The beta release had all the game’s units and races, however, it was only playable over Battle.net; single player games and LAN play were not playable on the beta version of the game. "Warcraft III" was first released in the United States on July 3, 2002 and in Europe on July 5, 2002.
Warcraft: Orcs &amp; Humans
In April 1998, Blizzard released "StarCraft", an RTS with the concepts and mechanisms of "Warcraft" but an interplanetary setting and three totally different races. "Starcraft" and its expansion "" were well received by critics and became very successful. "World of Warcraft", released in North America in November 2004 and in Europe in February 2005, was Blizzard's first attempt at a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, and used the universe of the "Warcraft" RTS games, including characters that first appeared in "Warcraft: Orcs & Humans". "WoW" was praised highly by critics, was the most popular MMORPG in 2008,
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
"World of Warcraft: Cataclysm" has received critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the game has received an average score of 90 based on 53 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim." "IGN" scored the game 9/10 saying "Cataclysm is far and away the most impressive expansion to an MMO ever made" with "better content than Wrath". "GameSpot" rated the game 8.5/10 and with a critic score of 9.1/10 declaring World of Warcraft "in the best shape of its life" though stating that some of the new content is "mind-numbing and that there aren't enough new zones". "GamePro" gave it 4/5 stars calling the game "another solid release" and "much improved in terms of its overall design" but contrastingly stated Cataclysm to be "not quite as impressive as previous expansions". In addition, GameSpy gave Cataclysm their "MMO Game of the Year" at their 'Game of the Year 2010' awards.
BlizzCon
"Hearthstone"'s third adventure, "League of Explorers", was announced on November 6, 2015, which was later released on November 12. Overwatch was announced to have a Q2 2016 release date, later confirmed for May 24. The expansion "" released its cinematic trailer and announced a release date on or before September 21, 2016 and was playable. The Warcraft (film) released its first official trailer and revealed its release date of June 10, 2016. "StarCraft II" was announced to have upcoming single player mission packs, "Nova Covert Ops", which each consist of three missions.