Blizz Prez Mike Morhaime, #4 on PC World's Most Important People on the Web
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 5th 2007 at 3:16PM
As you might imagine, we here at WoW Insider love World of Warcraft. It's the greatest thing to come along since at least Diablo. Blizzard is a great company, and when it comes to computer gaming, you could solidly make the argument that nobody does it better than they do.But when PC World announced their "Most Important People on the Web" list today, I was surprised to see, right there in between the inventor of Bittorrent and Jimbo Wales of Wikipedia, Mike Morhaime, President of Blizzard Entertainment as the 4th Most Important Person on the Internet (a big jump up from a previous list). PC World cites WoW's huge player base and Blizzard's profits of $1.5 billion a year (not to mention all the money floating around WoW's black market services), but does the president of a videogame company really deserve to be two slots down from Steve Jobs, in between the man who basically created an anonymous peer-to-peer sharing system and the man who's developing the definitive online collection of knowledge?
Call me cynical, but I say no. WoW may have influence over a lot of people, but Blizzard is using that influence to nerf druids and tweak raid bosses, not affect the Internet population. Then again, the guy did appear in animated form on South Park, and Jimbo Wales has never done that. We should all know by now that these lists are just a cheap way of encouraging discussion (and attention), but Morhaime's inclusion on the list means that WoW's ascent into our culture isn't done yet.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Flit Mar 5th 2007 3:45PM
Sorry, but the influence WOW has had in video games is pretty damn important in the history of the internet. I mean, there have been other online games before for years and years, but nothing the size and scope and influence such as WoW has.
Galipan Mar 5th 2007 4:01PM
I agree with #1, there have been many many online games in the past, and NOTHING has amounted to the magnitude that WoW has achieved. I mean, c'mon, the guys have 8 million geeks paying these dudes $15 a month, and all of us love it. I think that Morhaime (and all of WoW's staff) deserves to be up there, for creating the "online sensation" that has droppes many grades and made us lose GFs.
NerdblurbSteve Mar 5th 2007 4:24PM
Just as a point of reference - Does anybody know how many subscribers AOL has left? Shouldn't WoW be closing in, if not surpassing, AOL's subscriber base in the near future?
I mean realistically, WoW has more subscribers then many ISP's. That's huge when you consider it's a game meant solely for entertainment.
Sylythn Mar 5th 2007 4:47PM
Am I the only one that balks about him being on a list of "Internet" people? WoW is based on private servers...the only Internet exposure they have is their website...ok and a MySpace. But WoW doesn't come to mind when I think Internet. I'd buy 4th most important person in gaming, or in online entertainment...but the internet - seems like he's out of place.
Mike Schramm Mar 5th 2007 4:41PM
Steve, that's an interesting idea-- according to this, though...
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/aol_openid.php
AOL still has 63 million IDs on its service. Those include AIM servers, however, and I know I've got three or four different AIM names floating around. As for ISP subscribers, I'm not sure, but it does seem possible that worldwide, Blizzard might actually have AOL beat. (Disclaimer, if necessary: WoW Insider is run by Weblogs, Inc, which is owned by AOL)
But the opposing point to that is that even if Blizzard has the power, they're not using it. If Blizzard made Vista a requirement to play WoW, it would be huge, but I wonder how many people would go along with it. Morhaime has done a lot to get people to play a game, but in the big picture, does that matter as much as what Bram Cohen or Jimbo Wales is doing?
Strongmark on Arthas Mar 5th 2007 4:46PM
What a way to throw out a WoW shoutout if there ever was a way... WoW players are important too!
:o)
Dave Mar 5th 2007 5:21PM
1.5 billion a year is more than Brahm Cohen will ever make with BitTorrent.
1.5 Billion is more than Jimmy "I'm not ever taking advertisement money" Wales will make in his lifetime.
Keep going down the list and you can say the exact same thing about every single person on the list for the most part. You Tube will never clock 1.5 billion in a year. Ever. I'm definitely willing to say it.
Most people aren't even making profitable things. They have very nice concepts, but absolutely no sustainable or predictable money streams. 1.5 billion makes a lot of tangible presence, and most importantly has what every single person on that list wants: 7+ Million Unique people paying $15/mo and $40 every year (some more!) for their content. Most websites are lucky to get that many FREE users on a daily basis. Plenty are lucky to get 7,000 paying customers on a monthly basis.
If everyone else on the list could make a model that would get 7+ million paying subscribers every month, I suspect Blizzard might be farther down on the list. Will anyone remember Blizzard in 10 years? Absolutely. How many people will still be using Facebook/Myspace/YouTube in 10 years? A very, very small amount if history has anything to say about it and unless they can signifcantly monetize their services. (currently, their revenue is not a positive number, yay for the internet and over-valued companies!)
Mike Schramm Mar 5th 2007 5:34PM
Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion, just FYI. I bet they hope YouTube makes that back within the first 3 years, if not yearly after that.
Neither Wikipedia or Bittorrent are moneymakers (although Cohen hopes otherwise, but I agree with you), but I would say that both of their contributions are more important to the history of the Internet than WoW.
Very interesting question about whether or not people will be using Myspace in 10 years. I'll agree with you that they won't, but I definitely think that they'll be using innovations that are based on the idea of social networking that Myspace made popular.
This isn't "most profitable people," it's "most important."
Dan Mar 5th 2007 11:51PM
How is WoW's contributions not as important as the others that topped the list?
WoW has really set the stage on the future of online gaming and helping the realization of that extremely huge market.
It has really expanded on the impact of social networking and in my opinion has taken it to the extreme.
We have YouTube, Myspace but WoW is the one that really has built a huge dedicated community by bringing in the technology needed to acheive it.
Yes it does have ways to go but it has really opened up the doors to the future of the internet and shows us the way it is going.
I still don't even think Blizzard really has any idea how much power they have and can tap in to.
RaydenUni Mar 6th 2007 1:12AM
"6. Am I the only one that balks about him being on a list of "Internet" people? WoW is based on private servers...the only Internet exposure they have is their website...ok and a MySpace. But WoW doesn't come to mind when I think Internet. I'd buy 4th most important person in gaming, or in online entertainment...but the internet - seems like he's out of place."
You confuse web with internet. Internet refers to anything over these cables. Web refers to websites. So WoW is on the internet, but it is not on the web.
Oraculum Mar 6th 2007 1:15AM
WoW not only created a video game or a source of entertainment. They created a universe that people exist in... A LOT OF PEOPLE.
WoW is not just a game, but a society. With micro societies that exist within it. Societies created by people... Small scale governments... Entire economies... All surrounding one source of entertainment.
People make a big deal when a movie makes a couple hundred million a year (of total revenue... not even profit)... WoW completely destroys all forms of entertainment when it comes to profit and mass appeal. Yes... that is a big deal...
awender Mar 6th 2007 4:13AM
Mike, you've a very limited perspective about the WoW phenomen and how does it influence people's everyday life.
WoW has a very strong effect on players' behaviour and their view of the world (not only Warcraft).
I know this is just a blog, so you can write down stupid things too.
Kaylek Mar 6th 2007 8:59AM
I think it's more about principle... WOW *shouldn't* have such a heavy influence on internet culture. It's purely entertainment, there's no underlying purpose behind your 10/10 tier 9 epix and your legendary 2hand and where you rank on the damage/heal/decurse/polymorph meters.
While yes, the influence is there, it's a sad truth.