Blizzard Entertainment’s Mike Morhaime Talks About The Social Decline In World Of Warcraft

Change is a natural part of life and over the past year or so, we’ve seen World of Warcraft evolve from a hardcore MMORPG into a game that appeals to both casual and hardcore gamers alike. Blizzard Entertainment co-founder and retired president and CEO Mike Morhaime, however, says that this had a negative effect on the social aspect of the game. He talks about that and the current state of the classic MMORPG and MMOs in general in a recent interview with VentureBeat.

“I would also just observe that as World of Warcraft evolved over the years, it actually kind of became less social because in an effort to achieve more accessibility, we removed some of the reasons why you need to play with the same group of people over and over,” said Morhaime. “I think that it takes away some of the reasons for some people of why they play, and why they might want to continue to play.”

Morhaime also said that he’s hopeful for the future of MMOs. “I wouldn’t say that MMOs wouldn’t have a resurgence in the future, but maybe there are other types of games that are able to capture the social experience even more.”

Mike Morhaime announced that he was resigning as president and CEO of the company in October 2018, leaving Blizzard in the capable hands of J. Allen Brack. You’ll find the full interview below.