3. Warcraft#DY#s Mainstream Success
That World of Warcraft is still doing well, some three years after the game#DY#s launch, would be a gross understatement. The almost flawless launch of The Burning Crusade expansion in January kicked off a year of amazing in-roads to mainstream culture. The South Park episode, the Toyota commercial, the Mr. T/Shatner spots... any Massive gamer that still wants to sit in a corner and feel misunderstood is missing the point. Once the Shat has done a Shaman impression for your game on national television, you#DY#re a permanent part of popular culture. It#DY#s that simple.
The question becomes, was this year#DY#s in-roads into mainstream consciousness WoW-specific, or something that the genre as a whole has accomplished? Do parents see the connection between their kids playing Webkinz and this sword-and-sorcery thing that Mini-Me is pimping? 2008 is primed to be an even better year for World of Warcraft with a noticeably faster 1-60 experience, a finely tuned set of 60-70 zones, and the promise of a brand-new expansion to draw even more players into the world of Azeroth. If Activision Blizzard doesn#DY#t announce 10 million players sometime next year I#DY#ll be awfully surprised.
Lessons to learn: Polish is king. Mr. T is funny. I am the law-giver
