Ex-Blizzard employee says on Twitch that Starcraft 2 made less sales than a glittering pony in WoW

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StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty is considered one of the best real-time strategy games. Nevertheless, the game is said to have earned less overall than a single microtransaction in World of Warcraft, according to an ex-Blizzard employee.

Who says that? Jason T. Hall is a former Blizzard employee turned indie developer who streams on Twitch. There he shares insights from his time at Blizzard and in the games industry in general.

In a recent stream, Hall revealed why microtransactions won’t just disappear from gaming.

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Hall says suckers will always buy the microtransactions

What kind of story is this? During his time at Blizzard, Jason Hall worked on, among other things, StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty. He describes working on the real-time strategy game as a “terrible time.”

  • You would have worked overtime almost every day for two years
  • Sometimes employees worked 6 days a week, sometimes 10 hours a day
  • Some employees left the company
  • Even marriages have broken down because of the long hours

    • At least the game, which is considered one of the best of its kind even 13 years after its release, ran well. However, if you think that StarCraft 2 would have brought in tons of money, Hall has a nasty surprise: A single microtransaction in World of Warcraft is said to have generated more sales.

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    Translation:

    That’s the saddest part of this whole thing, dude. I worked overtime on StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty for 2 years straight. […] There is a mount in World of Warcraft, the first mount, the Glitter Pony as we called it. It was $15 at the time, I think. This mount made more money than StarCraft 2. After all expenses, it made more money.

    Hall uses this analogy to help viewers understand that microtransactions aren’t going away: they would simply make too much money for too little effort. Once you have a framework to deliver microtransactions, you would essentially be printing money.

    “You wonder why these companies offer microtransactions? Because the suckers keep buying them all,” Hall said.

    Which mount is it? It appears to be the Celestial Steed, which was introduced on April 15, 2010. At the time, it was the first mount that could be purchased directly from Blizzard and caused a lot of discussion in the community – which can also be seen in the comments from our GameStar colleagues.

    Although the Sky Steed was priced at $25 (€20) rather than $15 when it was first introduced, Hall admits he’s not entirely sure about the price.

    How much did the “Glitter Pony” bring in? The exact revenue is not known for either the game or the mount. However, it should be said that Wings of Liberty sold more than 1.5 million copies in the first two days. In 2012, two years after launch, it hit the 6 million mark. However, the game will have been much more expensive than the Sky Horse.

    WoL has been free to play since 2017, and Blizzard stopped developing new content in 2020. So fans still have hope that there could be a StarCraft 3 at some point:

    Blizzard: Insider says StarCraft 3 is in development

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