Twenty years after its release, World of Warcraft intends to continue the adventure with its most fan players

For twenty years, players from all over the world have been competing live, night and day, in battles between the Horde and the Alliance in ever more fantastical settings. Celebrating its birthday on Saturday, the online video game World of Warcraft demonstrates a longevity rarely observed in the sector. A success due to a loyal community and a constantly evolving universe. « It’s a rare game, which touched so many people, we feel the weight of this heritage »confides to AFP Ion Hazzikostas, the current director of the game, met in August at the Gamescom show in Germany. This early fan of WoW – the acronym given to the game – joined the Blizzard studio, American developer of the title, in 2008 before climbing the ranks to hold the helm of this « big ship ».

While it is not the first massively multiplayer online role-playing game (genre also known as MMORPG), World of Warcraft enjoyed massive success upon its release in 2004, quickly bringing together several million players around the world. It notably benefited from the popularity of the brand Warcraft, saga of real-time strategy games launched ten years earlier by the Californian studio Blizzard, bought in 2023 by Microsoft.

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An anomaly in the video game landscape

Two factions clash in a heroic-fantasy world populated by orcs and elves, in a persistent online universe where thousands of players can connect simultaneously, in exchange for a monthly subscription (13 euros per month). There they complete quests, which often require cooperating with other players. « He was a precursor »says Olivier Servais, specialist in online communities, for whom the longevity of WOW stands out « of anomaly ». Because the social aspect of the experience, still in its infancy at the time, will build player loyalty.

« Blizzard has focused on guilds, human-sized communities, which bring together between 30 and 200 players. »explains Olivier Servais, who shared the daily life of one of them for five years, « what is the average size of an association in France ». In these groups, « there is flirting, people confide in their daily lives »weddings and funerals are organized, and the game becomes « an excuse to get together ».

WOW was many people’s first contact with a virtual environment. It was a slightly magical feeling, difficult to reproduce today

Ion Hazzikostas, World of Warcraft game director

The year Facebook was founded, WoW thus outlines what the current globalized social networks will be. « It was many people’s first contact with a virtual environment. It was a slightly magical feeling, difficult to reproduce today »adds the director of the game, who himself played an orc for several years. Since then, very popular titles like Fortnite or League of Legends have taken up this social aspect, while adapting it to today’s codes.

At its peak, in the early 2010s, World of Warcraft claimed more than 10 million active accounts. And undoubtedly many more players for Olivier Servais, particularly because in Asia, several people often share the same account. Their current number is not precisely known, Blizzard no longer communicates any data on this subject, but WOW remains widely practiced throughout the world. In recent years, the number of active players has varied between 4 and 8 million depending on the release of new content, according to estimates made by fans. The only official figure put forward by Blizzard last week: WOW players have devoted more than a billion cumulative days to their adventurers since the game’s creation.

A time-consuming passion

However, « we don’t rest on our laurels »says Ion Hazzikostas. At the end of August, its title welcomed The War Withinits tenth expansion, bringing new areas to explore, new quests and challenges. Two other extensions are already planned. « We try ambitious things to try to shake up the players and keep the game dynamic »he continues, while these major additions, at the rate of one every two years, also make it possible to incorporate the various feedback from players.

To the point that it would be difficult for a user from 2004 to recognize the world of Azeroth where the adventure takes place. « Twenty years later, it remains a monument but in a gaming and user market that has completely changed »underlines Olivier Servais, who believes that the MMORPG « has become one genre among others »whose problem is « the time necessary to devote to it. » « I don’t see an end on the horizon »assures the director of WOWdrawing a parallel with Marvel or Star Wars productions. And even if the servers were to go down one day, “Warcraft is a brand (…) and we intend to tell stories in this universe forever ».