10 Video Games That Changed EVERYTHING When They Launched
7. World Of Warcraft (2004)
With four games already under their belts at the back of 2004, Blizzard's Warcraft universe was already well on its way to becoming a hugely influential franchise by the time they made the leap into the unknown world of MMORPGs that November. Sixteen years, eight major expansions and roughly $10 billion in revenue later, and World of Warcraft is the online multiplayer game that changed the gaming landscape in ways never imaginable before.
Online multiplayer gaming hardly existed when WoW first launched, however the ability to jump into Azeroth with friends and tackle long grinding raids across the world proved just how popular a format it could be. At its peak, sometime between 2009 and 2010, the game boasted an active player base of around 12 million and has become one of the most recognisable franchises in society.
World of Warcraft even became so successful that games such as Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm began bringing over recognisable characters from WoW to act as the game's heroes and entice players in.
The legacy left by Blizzard's most popular release really cannot be understated, with all of the lore and storytelling creating the most expansive world in gaming history and its ambitious structure quite literally changing the landscape of gaming from a multiplayer point of view forever.