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.
Since the release of World of Warcraft on November 2004, it rapidly gain success around the world. The new MMORPG has experienced success beyond what they or anyone else had expected. It is now the world’s most-subscribed MMORPG with more than 11.5 million monthly subscribers. Most subscribers come from Asia, around 5.5 million subscribers, North America, 2.5 million, Europe 2 million and the rest scattered around the world. World of Warcraft is currently holds the Guinness World Record for the most popular MMORPG in the world. Around 62% of the markets for MMORPG belongs to World of Warcraft. This MMORPG has become the leader and broadened the audience for MMORPG genre and online games in general.
Before the age of World of Warcraft, majority of people playing multi-player online games would usually be teenager or probably male with age around 20. World of Warcraft has broadened the gaming audience considerably. All sorts of age groups and individuals are now playing it. In particular, it has successfully brought much younger multi-player gamers towards the genre.
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.
World of Warcraft not only played by male, but also female. In general, women make up around one third of overall multi-player online game. They usually play this kind of game accompanied by their partner like boyfriend, brother, or husband. World of Warcraft is often the key title in introducing them to the MMORPG.
WoW has made online game as a social experience. People play the game together in groups. Couples play it together and almost a quarter of people playing in groups are romantically involved. Parent and their children also play together. Don’t forget with brothers and sisters. This could tighten up the relationship within family, as long you don’t overdo-it.
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.
Besides the free trial offer, World of Warcraft has some new approaches compare to other online game which is already out in the market. One example is WoW’s approach to character’s death. In previous MMORPG, player would suffer a great deal of penalty when the character he/she played got killed. WoW change the concept of character death. Character would be able to recover and then start playing immediately. WoW has also improved the combat area. Pauses or downtime between play were reduced significantly. Characters are allowed to recover from damage quickly, thus player could return to combat quickly too. These new approaches have made World of Warcraft the chosen online game to play.
The success of World of Warcraft to attract vast audience in the world of online gaming, has been of interest and also encouragement for other online game’s developer to create a new title and join the competition. World of Warcraft success’ has open the eyes of game developer’s, that the market for online gaming is still wide and open. The market is also growing bigger and bigger and there are so much potential in it. With the right game title, the market could be extremely profitable. Blizzard Entertainment has made the right move and now, other online game developer’s is trying to imitate their success.
In summary, World of Warcraft developed by Blizzard Entertainment has sets new ground for MMORPG and increase the audience playing MMORPG. People from different ages and types have play and enjoy the game. And Blizzard has gain much success financially and non-financially with this game. Blizzard has also made other developer to start thinking and being creative and innovative if they want to achieve their success’. Bravo Blizzard. Bravo World of Warcraft.
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