Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness Ten-Year Anniversary
In December 1995, we released our second real-time strategy (RTS) game, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, the sequel to Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. Thanks to an overwhelmingly positive reception by players and critics alike, Warcraft II went on to become our first #1 best seller and helped establish Blizzard Entertainment as a premier game developer and publisher. The following are some of the features of Warcraft II that represented milestones for Blizzard:
- online play for up to eight players
- our first pre-rendered intro cinematic
- sea and air units in addition to land-based units
- highly detailed SVGA (640x480) graphics
- full 3D sound
- advanced AI and fog of war
- simultaneous command of up to 9 units
- a user-friendly map editor
our first exploding sheep
Today, Warcraft II's sequel, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, is played in professional tournaments all around the world, and World of Warcraft - our MMORPG based on the same Horde-vs.-Alliance struggle that Warcraft II brought to the forefront of the RTS genre- has become our ninth #1 best seller and is played by more than 4.5 million gamers worldwide. We’d like to thank all Warcraft players for their support throughout the past decade, and for keeping the war alive in the lands of Azeroth.
For a trip down memory lane, check out some of the awards that Warcraft II won back in the mid-1990s, as well as some of the Warcraft II articles and reviews that are still up around the Web:
