Lead designer Ryan Barker of EverQuest has said it would be ”definitely true”, no chance of World of Warcraft without the 1999 MMO, Blizzard would ”say that too.”
Not sure if something like WoW could have happened eventually, ”but it definitely wouldn’t have happened now” without EverQuest. It was the ”original spark” other games leapt from.
”That’s definitely true, and I think most of the guys at Blizzard would say that too,” replied Barker to VideoGamer.com, asked if World + EverQuest = World of Warcraft.
”They had a comment at BlizzCon where somebody mentioned EverQuest and a few people in the crowd booed. I don’t remember who was up there at the time, but they were like, hey you can’t be knocking on the grandfathers there. I think it’s definitely true.”
”I don’t know that Warcraft wouldn’t have happened eventually, but it definitely wouldn’t have happened now if EverQuest hadn’t been around. Perhaps it would have been a different game, not EverQuest, that was breaking that ground.”
”But EverQuest did it and there’s been a whole genre of games that leapt from that original spark there. So, completely true,” he added. 15 expansions have been released for the EverQuest game, with the sequel EverQuest II launching in ‘04.
Since World of Warcraft has released every other MMO on the planet has been overshadowed by the sheer number of subscriptions Blizzard have attracted, even combining all its rivals would most likely not match the WoW population.
”But I think we’re still looking forward and we’re trying to make the next big game after Warcraft, and hopefully we will do that,” said Barker. Erm, have you seen BioWare’s ’Deception’ trailer for Star Wars The Old Republic, Mr Barker?
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