Former Blizzard president Mike Morhaime rarely disclosed this past in a recent interview: the proposal for “World of Warcraft 2 (World of Warcraft 2/World of Warcraft 2)” was directly rejected at an internal meeting on the grounds that “the existing “World of Warcraft” is still profitable and the risk is too high.” To him, the rejection was not just a failed product decision, but a microcosm of interest in innovation at the height of a blizzard.
The internal considerations of the “World of Warcraft” team back then seem to be cruel now.
The core reason for rejecting “World of Warcraft 2” is that the existing IP still generates stable revenue, and the cost and risk of developing a new sequel is not worth it internally. This logic is understandable from a business perspective, but in the eyes of players it is a short-sighted strategy of “just counting money on IP”.
Mike Morhaime’s retrospective is full of historical onions
After leaving Blizzard, Mike Morhaime will return as a consultant in 2024, but his voice is no longer the same as it was back then. In the interview, he chose to make this experience of “being said no” public. To a certain extent, he was also explaining to the outside world: If different decisions had been made back then, would Blizzard be very different today?
The most painful thing about this story is not that it was not done, but that it could have been done
When the community discussed this revelation, the core emotion was not anger but regret. The player community generally believes that if Blizzard had the courage to invest in “World of Warcraft 2” at its peak, the current MMORPG market may be in a different situation. However, history cannot be repeated, and we can only watch this “maybe once existed” option slowly turn yellow in the internal meeting minutes.