World of Warcraft, or often referred to as WoW, is a massive multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth series of Warcraft game in the fantasy Warcraft universe. On September 2, 2001, Blizzard Entertainment announced World of Warcraft after the success of Warcraft III and its game patch The Frozen Throne. The game itself was released on November 23, 2004, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise.
World of Warcraft has been extremely popular ever since it has been released to the public. The success it gains in the MMORPG world is beyond what anyone, even themselves, could imagine. It is currently held the Guinnes World Record for the most-subscribed MMORPG in the world with more than 11.5 million subscribers. More than 2 millions subscribers from Europe, 2.5 millions subscribers from North America, 5.5 millions subscribers from Asia, and the rest, around 1 million subscribers, scattered around the globe. World of Warcraft leads the market in MMORPG. Around 62% of the MMORPG’s market is own by WoW. World of Warcraft has become the mainstream leader and it successfully widened the audience for online gaming, especially MMORPG.
Before the launch of World of Warcraft , the majority of people who play MMORPG are most likely teenager or male around the age of 20. When World of Warcraft was introduced to the online gaming world, all sorts of age groups and individuals starting to play this MMORPG. This online game was not to be dominated by teenagers anymore. World of Warcraft, in particular, has successfully brought younger people, around 10-15 years of age, to play and enjoy the game.
Even to people who never play an online game before, World of Warcraft has its own appeal. It is very usual when someone was influenced by the people in their surroundings. Teammate, roommate, friends, spouse, brother, sister, etc are the people who you will most like get influence from. Since WoW is such a fun online game, it is no wonder, people who has little or no experience in MMORPG, will still enjoy and become addicted to the game.
Most online gamers consist of male person. But after World of Warcraft launched to public, female person has also shown their interest to play the online game. It is estimated that 30% of the world online game’s player are female. Their partner usually accompany them when they are playing the game. Often, World of Warcraft is the key title in introducing female person to play MMORPG.
World of Warcraft has successfully made online game as a social experience. Often people play this online game together in groups. Well, apparently it is more fun to play online games in groups rather than to play it alone as individual. Parents and their children play together. Brother’s and sister’s too. And don’t forget couples. Almost 25% of people playing online games in group are involved romantically. Playing in groups can certainly tighten your relationship with others.
World of Warcraft is so popular in the world of MMORPG. One of the reason is the free trial offered by WoW’s developer, Blizzard Entertainment. Before the official launching, Blizzard offers online gamer to download the beta version of the game for free. Online gamers who have known Warcraft previous series respond to the free offer. Blizzard was hoping to get some input from gamer about their first impression of the game and also about what to improve before the official launch. Since gamers love the beta version, it is most likely for them to buy the game and pay the monthly subscription fee after WoW launch to the public.
Another reason is, although World of Warcraft follows a similar model to others in the genre and was noted for having many familiar concepts from role playing games, the new approaches to reduce pauses between game encounters was well liked. A common example was the new approach to character’s death; in previous MMORPGs, a player would suffer a high penalty for character’s death, while in WoW a player would be able to recover and start playing quickly. Combat was another area where “downtime” or pauses between play were reduced. By allowing all character types to recover from damage taken, players could return to combat quickly. These improvements made WoW chosen by online gamers as a great MMORPG.
The vast audience for World of Warcraft has also been of interest to the gaming industry. Many game companies felt that there was no room in the online gaming market for a new title. Thus gamers didn’t have much to choose from, since there isn’t much option for online game. Blizzard Entertainment has made a brave step and its game, WoW, has proven otherwise. WoW has show that the online game market can and still expanding and growing. Blizzard has proven that the market for online game still has much potential and with the right title, it will be profitable. Other game companies have been impressed by its success, and are very interested in why it has taken off to the extent that it has.
World of Warcraft is a multi-player online game that has broken new ground and increased the market that multi-player games can have. The game is liked by different types of people at different ages. Blizzard Entertainment as the developer of World of Warcraft has successfully made other developer in the online game industry to rethink their whole approach to the genre. It is a very accessible game and it has developed a broad, mainstream appeal as a result. Bravo Blizzard. Bravo World of Warcraft.