WoW has pushed Blizzard from pretty rich to BillfuckingGates of Gaming level
Well you just sort of ruled out HS and HotS, since they're very recent and are still dwarfed by MTG and DotA/LoL respectively, reputation-wise.
Yet HS is probably the most downloaded game in Blizzard history, since you can install it on a PC, tablet and phone. It also handles a shitload of micro-transactions, since even gold purchases (packs/arena) are registered.
For me personally i would go with Diablo series not including Diablo 3 that cluster fuck should be stricken from the books, anyway Diablo introduced me to blizzard games way back in 1996 then came the master piece Diablo 2 and it's expansion, i play D2 for over 10 years just as much as wow if not more, as much as i like wow i do not like what it has become but i will always be a Diablo fanboy.
I'm gonna let 'em know that Dolemite is back on the scene! I'm gonna let 'em know that Dolemite is my name, and fuckin' up motherfuckers is my game!
Open beta for HS started about 16 months ago if I'm not mistaken. I get what you're trying to say/do here, I'm just pointing out you can't simply use the term 'most succesful' without criteria.
It's like asking what the best car in the world is:
What's the best car in the world?
Got one in mind?
Cool.
Now put that car in the middle of the Sahara desert.
Most succesful in sales would probably be like:
WoW > Diablo > Hearthstone > WC3 > Starcraft > Heroes of the Storm
No idea how well HotS is selling though, but I don't expect that much. But most succesful in quality it would be like:
WoW > WC3 > Starcraft > Diablo > Hearthstone > Heroes of the Storm
An odd poll really. Successful in what way? Monetary success? Cultural success? Gameplay success? Influence?
Generally I think WoW would be the default answer though there's room to argue the original WC and WCII started the snowball.
Marked WoW based on the question of the poll, question in the OP was not the same though. Still would vote WoW though. It had many years of being very good, but unfortunately at this point it has also had more years of not very good.
It is either Starcraft or World of Warcraft without a doubt in term of monetary success.
The difference between them is that Blizzard failed to fully monetize Starcraft themselves. TV networks in South Korea profited from broadcasting Starcraft fights and tournaments for many years and still do. That MUST be worth a LOT of money when you factor in commercials, broadcasting rights, sales, etc.
Its a lot easier to calculate how much revenue WoW has generated just for Blizzard. Its very difficult to calculate how much revenue Starcraft has generated for Blizzard + South Korea media outlets.
GOMTV paid Blizzard for broadcasting rights to Starcraft Tournaments.
GOMTV draws an audience of over 100 million for Starcraft as of 2011.
http://www.complexitygaming.com/news/2969/
Blizzard expects at least $1 billion in profit from Starcraft 2:During the first half of the 2011 Global Starcraft 2 season, the number of foreign viewers are told to be over 50 million." The first half of the Global Starcraft 2 season includes 5 regular seasons (3 GSL Seasons, World Championship, and SuperTournament). 40 million of the views came from GOMtv's foreign website www.gomtv.net. The other 12 million came from China’s NeoTV.
Since the first broadcasting by GomTV Classic in 2009, GomTV.net has experienced the number of viewers doubling each year. Furthermore in China, the two seasons that were broadcasted through NeoTV beginning in May have experienced an explosive increase in popularity amongst the Chinese viewers and critics.
Therefore when summing up the number of viewers of the live broadcast and VODs, the number of foreign GSL viewers through GomTV is said to be 40,922,366 viewers and 12,516,491 viewers through the NeoTV; totaling up to 53,438,857 viewers. This number is calculated only up to the SuperTournament Finals that was held on June 18th of this year. Therefore it is predicted that the number of viewers including the new GSTL season and GSL Regular season for the rest of the year will easily add up to more than 100 million viewers.
http://kotaku.com/5589040/starcraft-...lion-price-tag
So we can say Starcraft 2 will earn Blizzard $1 billion, but it also earns North Korea media a ton of cash too, and that has a multiplier effect in their economy.The Wall Street Journal puts StarCraft II's development costs above the $100 million mark, but Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick says the investment will eventually bring in between $500 million and a billion dollars for the publisher. In profit.
I can safely say that, at one point, Starcraft was unquestionably the most successful game ever produced by Blizzard. Its possible World of Warcraft passed it. However, WoW subs are dropping and Starcraft is as popular as ever in Asia, and even if WoW passed it, Starcraft may wind up retaking its spot at #1.
I would actually call Blizzard a Starcraft company, not a Warcraft company.
Starcraft is their only franchise pulling in 100 million audiences. And second place is NOT close.
Think about what that means. America has like 330 million people. Its as if 1 of every 3 Americans was watching starcraft on TV. Its absolutely staggering how successful Starcraft is.
Last edited by Grummgug; 2015-06-21 at 01:35 AM.
WoW. Though I'm sure they are making a killing off of Hearthstone too. Diablo 2 and 3 and both Starcraft games might have been/are big, but they still pale compared to WoW's success, even now.
WoW... probably setting a record for the most people chatting about it who don't play it anymore, and it STILL has the most actual subscribers.
Hearthstone, nothing comes even close.
Reasons : It attracted wider demographic than anything else. For other Blizz games it was usually people who already played blizzard stuff before, HS attracted people who had nothing to do with blizz before.
There is no question about it really: WoW. Hearthstone is also doing surprisingly well.