Forget PS3 or Wii, for 6 million plus World of Warcraft players the release of Burning Crusade will be the gaming highlight of 2006. Are Blizzard feeling the pressure? I chatted to Itzik Ben Bassat, VP Business Development and International to find out.
How surprised were Blizzard by the success of WoW?
We very grateful for the success. We worked for years and years on the game and we felt we had something really good on our hands. When we started playing ourselves and on the friends and families alpha we realised it was good. A friend of mine had never played games before and I got him to try WoW in alpha. After two weeks he said he liked the game but he would never pay subscription for it. So when the game was released I sent him a boxed copy. He got disconnected when the month's free trial ran out. After 20 minutes he was on the phone to me asking to be got back in! So we knew we had something good, but we were overwhelmed by the success. The population of Azeroth is bigger than the population of Israel.
How do you balance the conflicting demands of this huge audience?
That's the challenge the game designers have every day. We are trying to be attentive to what the players say and adapt the content accordingly. Look at the expansion. We have content for new players such as the new races, which make it more comfortable for new players to play a Horde character. On the other hand we have some really cool end content. Our VP of game design Rob Pardo was in the recent Time 100 list and he knows what he is doing. He and his team are creating great content that can appeal to both types of player.
How are you getting new players on board?
Two years ago at E3 we didn't even win online game of the show which was surprising. The buzz started with the Blizzard community and then it built up with word-of-mouth and it spread from there. There is also the other half situation, with plenty of wives and girlfriends getting involved due to the social and trading elements. Over 10% of World of Warcraft players are female, which is something we are happy with and would like to grow.
Why do you think WoW has crossed over in the way it has?
It's more than the game. WoW is an entertainment experience. The average American spends 25 hours a week watching TV. This is done for entertainment, and WoW is the same. You have your friends there and it becomes a social experience. There are a lot of elements, such as the social side, which make it more than just a game.
How important was the lengthy development time?
This was very important to us and we always take our time with products. We wanted to get a level where we were happy with the content and quality.
How has Europe been doing? Any countries surprised you either with sales or lack of?
We have been doing remarkably well in the Nordic countries, and it has been that since Diablo 2. The main countries are Germany, France, UK and the Nordic countries. We've traditionally been very successful in Spain but WoW hasn't done as well there yet due to language issues. The Spanish version which is due out at the end of the year should solve that.
In ten years time the chances are that WoW will still be going - how does that make you feel?
We are very fortunate at Blizzard that we have three strong worlds - Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo. What I can definitely say is that in ten years time all these worlds will have been developed and extended. With WoW we still have stories to tell and places to show.
What is Blizzard's opinion on the new wave of competitors such as Lord of the Rings online?
First of all, as a gamer I want to play good games. If a friend of mine calls me and says he's working on a great game I'll always want to try it out. From our perspective we have been involved in online gaming for a long time now. It started with battle.net which provided a great experience for narrowband users. Battle.net is the largest online gaming community in the world. We actually have more active users on battle net than World of Warcraft. Moving forward we will try to stay at the cutting edge of the gaming experience. If other companies want to copy that they can, or if they want to improve then they can. Our aim is to stay at the cutting edge of online gaming, especially with the growth in the market of online console gaming and the convergence between PC and consoles online.
Any plans for a move into consoles?
Consoles will become increasingly important to the online world and obviously as a leading company in the online world we would like to use the great tools that the 360 and PS3 offer to bring Blizzard quality to console owners. There is nothing confirmed yet though.
How do you retain your "gamer" image when you are in market leading position?
It's all about company philosophy. We honestly only want to make great games, that's all we want to do. Obviously we want it to be profitable and that is my responsibility, but first and foremost I am a gamer and I wanted to work for Blizzard because it was a life dream for me. The rest of the company feels the same way about the pureness of the brand and we all want to keep it the same way. Also we have a lot of top executives who have been with the company for ever. This means the philosophy is very consistent. I remember when I came up with a business plan and Mike binned it because he thought it wasn't right for gamers. It's all about company philosophy.
What about the accountants? Lawyers?
We don't have accountants in our company. We don't have legal people. We let Vivendi look after all the corporate stuff. There is a good relationship between us and the guys at Vivendi Games. We dress very casually at Blizzard. The developers wouldn't speak to you if you were dressed in a suit. Blizzard Europe has 23 nationalities on its staff but one culture, Blizzard.
What were the challenges in launching WoW in Europe?
When we started planning for Europe the market didn't exist. People didn't want us to launch there as the biggest MMO had 90,000 subscribers. We made a decision to do it right and that meant being local. So we set up a pan-European office which meant that everyone worked together. The marketing team know what the community team needs and the players know that we are serious. It was difficult at the beginning as we had 23 nationalities and there were cultural differences. The fact we are gamers bought us together and gave us unity. Plus we have language teachers and a real sense of community.
How do you take WoW even further into the mainstream when subs number eventually stall
There's a lot we haven't done with marketing yet, but we are chasing our tails with hardware. We are buying thousands of servers and it is very hard for to get these in the supply we need. We're buying the best hardware out there but it isn't always easy to get everything quickly. As we open new data centres we will use marketing to expose the game to new people. WoW is a great entertainment experience and we hope when people try it that they'll like it.
With WoW dominating at the moment is it hard to focus on your other IP
I still play Starcraft, and Diablo 2 was dominant when it released. At the moment we are not announcing anything but we have several projects concerning the three worlds (Starcraft, Diablo and Warcraft) that we will announce when we feel comfortable that they match the quality of our previous games.
