On November 23, 2004, World of Warcraft (WoW) was released, quickly becoming the world’s most popular online role-playing game, a title it still holds today. As of now, the game has over 7 million active users.
The development of WoW began in the late 1990s, when Blizzard Entertainment had already launched popular titles like Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft. After the release of Starcraft, Blizzard was split into two teams: one focused on Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos, and the other worked on a project that ultimately failed, which is considered the origin of WoW. At the time, online games like Ultima Online, Lineage, and Everquest were hugely popular. Blizzard was part of the Vivendi conglomerate, which was not particularly eager to invest in gaming, resulting in Spartan conditions for the development of what would become a legendary game. The office was filled with burnt-out light bulbs, food crushed into the carpet, a small microwave oven, and a sink full of dishes instead of a proper kitchen.
Initially, around 40 people worked on WoW, making decisions together, some of which failed and cost the company a lot of money. As the release date approached, the development team grew larger, doubling in size.
WoW was released in North America, Australia, and South Korea on November 23, 2004, followed by Europe in February 2005 and China in June. By January 2005, the game had already attracted 600,000 players, and by September, the number had grown to 4 million, with 1 million players in North America and 1.5 million in China. Within less than a year, WoW became the most popular role-playing game in the world, a position it continues to hold.
The first expansion, The Burning Crusade, was released in 2007, selling 2.4 million copies within the first 24 hours, and 3.5 million in the first month. By 2010, when Cataclysm launched, the player base peaked at a record 12 million users but began to decline afterward. In the first half of 2015, the number of subscribers dropped by 44%, down to 5.6 million.
Since then, the company, now known as Activision Blizzard, has stopped revealing subscriber numbers.
The monthly subscription for WoW has remained unchanged since day one – $15 per month, or $13 per month with an annual payment. According to the developers, since the game’s launch, players have collectively spent 1 billion days in Azeroth, the world where WoW takes place. As of the spring of 2024, the number of paying users is estimated to be around 7.25 million.
