20 Years Ago, World of Warcraft Wrote the Book on MMORPGs

When one thinks of a massively multiplayer online game, World of Warcraft is often the first thing that comes to mind – and for good reason. Since its release on November 23, 2004, Blizzard’s titanic MMORPG has dominated the market, and through its 10 expansions, has delivered consistent content every year. Though many games have tried to dethrone it, World of Warcraft is still the undeniable king of the MMORPG genre.

During the last two decades, World of Warcraft has rippled beyond Azeroth. From the infamous South Park Episode and Jamie Lee Curtis officiating her daughter’s wedding dressed as Jaina Proudmoore, to the study of the Blood Plague incident by epidemiologists and the evocation of WoW‘s iconic Leeroy Jenkins meme in the US House of Representatives, the impact of World of Warcraft on the zeitgeist is irrefutable. However, were it not for its rampant success as an MMO, it never would have entered pop culture in the first place.

World of Warcraft Became the Mold for the MMO Genre

MMORPGs Before and After World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft was not the first MMORPG ever made. RuneScape, Final Fantasy 11, EVE Online, MapleStory, Star Wars Galaxies, and two Lineage and EverQuest games are only a handful of the dozens of titles released before WoW. Many of these games are still active in one way or another, but none of them have quite reached the levels of success World of Warcraft has.

The term “MMORPG” was coined by Richard Garriott, the creator of the 1997 classic
Ultima Online,
seven years before
WoW
’s release.

This was because World of Warcraft codified what being an MMORPG truly was. World PvP, factions, instanced dungeons, customizable avatars, mounts, and other RPG elements found in WoW were not new, but between the innovations it made upon these systems, and the history it built upon from 10 years of Warcraft RTS games, World of Warcraft quickly became not only the most popular MMORPG, but one of the most successful video games of all time.

In this way, World of Warcraft solidified itself as the king of MMOs – though its reign was far from undisputed. In the years that followed its ascension, rising stars in the genre would be referred to by the community as “WoW Killers.”

Famous “WoW Killers” in MMO History

Of course, none of these titles would ever succeed in killing WoW; though games like Guild Wars 2, The Elder Scrolls Online, and The Old Republic all found success and boast healthy communities to this day, only Final Fantasy 14 was able to top World of Warcraft’s average player count, albeit only for a short time.

Final Fantasy 14
temporarily surged ahead of
WoW
in popularity during the critically-acclaimed MMO’s
Shadowbringers
expansion – which happened to coincide with
WoW
’s unpopular
Shadowlands
expansion and the controversial Blizzard lawsuits in 2021.
World of Warcraft
has since reclaimed the top spot after the success of
Dragonflight
and
The War Within
.

In truth, the only thing that can truly kill World of Warcraft is World of Warcraft itself. As demonstrated by high points like Wrath of the Lich King, the launch of WoW Classic, and the comeback started in Dragonflight, and by the low points of Warlords of Draenor, Battle for Azeroth, and Shadowlands, few things have affected World of Warcraft’s player count as much as its own content.

Competition has fueled innovation within World of Warcraft, but no game has come close to killing it – nor is one likely to do so in the future. In fact, by inspiring Blizzard to implement quality-of-life features already found in its competitors, such as the player housing system coming to World of Warcraft for the Midnight expansion, it is more likely that “WoW Killers” have helped the MMO grow in the same way it has influenced them by shaping the genre as a whole.

World of Warcraft’s Past, Present, and Future

The World of Warcraft That Could Have Been

That said, World of Warcraft was almost something much different than what fans got. According to early promotional material featuring Orcs and Humans playing together, characters were originally able to gain reputation with any faction – even those on the same side. While World of Warcraft would finally get cross-faction play over 17 years later, the feature could have been a part of the base game in another life.

What’s more, according to former World of Warcraft 3D level designer Johnathan Staats, Ogres were originally supposed to be one of the first four Horde races, and Pandaren were going to be on the Alliance. Though the latter eventually made it to the game as a neutral race, the Ogres were replaced by Trolls at the eleventh hour, and have yet to become playable.

Rather than The Burning Crusade, the first expansion was initially supposed to be a South Seas adventure featuring Nazjatar – though it pivoted away from the idea due to technical constraints involving water, later revisiting some of these ideas in Battle for Azeroth. Between this, early versions of the Emerald Dream and the Shadowlands, and cut content from World of Warcraft expansions like Warlords of Draenor,World of Warcraft‘s winding path could have led somewhere quite different. Then again, the WoW of today is nearly unrecognizable to the version 20 years ago; and one can only imagine what it may look like in another two decades.

What World of Warcraft Could Become

Now, World of Warcraft stands at the dawn of a new era. Chris Metzen, one of the minds that made Warcraft 3 and WoW what they are today, has returned to Blizzard as the executive creative director of the franchise. The Worldsoul Saga – World of Warcraft’s first true multi-expansion narrative – is off to a strong start with a faster-than-ever development cycle, having received an overall positive reception.

Additionally, over a year after their fallout, Blizzard and NetEase have mended their relationship, bringing millions of Chinese World of Warcraft players back into the fold. If World of Warcraft keeps up the momentum, it could eventually crest the 12 million subscriber peak it reached at the end of Wrath of the Lich King in 2010.

World of Warcraft Subscription and Revenue Facts

• Maintaining a WoW subscription for 20 years costs $3600, not accounting for expansion purchases, WoW Tokens, or bulk subscription discounts.
• Rather than monthly subscriptions, Chinese WoW players pay the equivalent of approximately ¢10-15 per hour played. A typical $15 sub fee would thus buy 100 to 150 hours in China.
• World of Warcraft currently has an estimated 7.25 million subscribers – the highest since Legion’s estimated 10 million.
• In 2017, WoW had made a total revenue of $9.23 billion. In 2024, that number is estimated to be about $15 billion.

World of Warcraft is nearly old enough to legally drink in the US – indeed, children born to couples who met in WoW are getting old enough to start their own journeys in Azeroth. It has been a cultural staple for so long that it is hard to imagine a world without World of Warcraft, but luckily, it doesn’t seem like that will happen any time soon.