[PatrickL]

You can find it here:

Part one

part two

World of Warcraft has beaten everyone's expectations - most notably their own - and continues to grow, Starcraft Ghost just went multiplayer, and there are new projects on the way. There's no sign of the storm dying down at Blizzard, as Rob Fahey found out when he spoke to Paul Sams...

Last time we spoke to Blizzard's VP of business operations, Paul Sams, the company was gearing up for the launch of World of Warcraft and the enormity of the task of launching such a huge MMORPG was never far from the conversation. (Click to read that interview: Part One; Part Two.)

World of Warcraft has since launched to huge critical acclaim and even more impressive commercial success, outstripping the expectations of almost everyone - including, importantly, Blizzard itself, with the company straining to keep up with massive consumer demand for the game. With expansion into China looking like creating the biggest market yet for the game, more content on the way, Starcraft Ghost on the horizon and a few more projects quietly in development, the California-based developer won't be resting on it's laurels, though - and when we caught up with him at E3 last month, Paul Sams was still under no illusions about living an easy life...

GamesIndustry.biz: Since we last spoke, World of Warcraft has been launched around the world; how has the performance of the game compared to your expectations?

Paul Sams: You know, it's far surpassed our expectations, to be candid. We... We had high hopes, I guess. However, the numbers that we've seen, especially in Europe, have been really really staggering. When we decided we were going to open an office in Europe specifically dedicated to Blizzard and World of Warcraft, there were points of nervousness about that. Obviously, when we looked at the market at the time, MMOs had not really taken over.

We really believed in the market - the European market has been incredibly strong for us historically with our PC boxed products, and we really believed that the gamers there were ready. We believed that gamers there would respond well if a good game came to them that really tied well with what their preferences and their game experience preferences were, and if we properly supported them in Europe. So, in doing that, yeah we were nervous, but I think so far the results have really shown us that it was the right decision. It's been a great success.

[AlStrong]

Thanks for the heads up.

edit: Oh... I remember these. I was waiting for part two to read about Ghost way back. :P