“It was a precursor,” said Olivier Servais, a specialist in online communities. “Blizzard focused on guilds and communities on a human scale, bringing together between 30 and 200 players.”
In these groups, “people flirt, they confide about their daily lives”, weddings and funerals are organised, and the game becomes “a pretext to socialise”, he said.
WoW was born the same year as Facebook, and comprised key elements such as online interactions and communities that would help create today’s globalised social networks.
“It was many people’s first real exposure and connection to people in a digital virtual environment. And that was part of the magic, and that’s a hard thing to replicate,” Hazzikostas said.
Since then, other popular games such as Fortnite or League of Legends have adopted similar codes.
‘MONUMENT’
At its peak in the 2010s, World of Warcraft claimed more than 10 million active accounts, though the number could be higher because many people often share one account, in Asia, in particular.
Blizzard no longer reveals the number of accounts, but WoW remains popular across the world.
“We are not resting on our laurels, or coasting gently off into the sunset,” Hazzikostas said.
Its 10th extension, The War Within, was released in August with new domains to explore and other changes.
“Twenty years later, it remains a monument but in a gaming market that has completely changed,” Servais said.
Hazzikostas said Blizzard is “trying new ambitious things to shake up what we’ve done and keep that vibrant”.
“I don’t see an end point to World of Warcraft on the horizon today,” he said, drawing parallels with franchises such as Marvel or Star Wars.