Recently, Jason Hall, a former Blizzard employee turned independent developer, took to YouTube to share some intriguing stories from his time in the gaming industry.
In one of his videos, Hall revealed that he had put in two years of overtime for “StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty,” but the game generated less revenue for Blizzard than a $15 in-game mount in “World of Warcraft.” “A $15 microtransaction mount made more money than ‘StarCraft II,'” said Hall.
While Hall did not explicitly mention which mount he was referring to, based on the release date of Wings of Liberty (July 27, 2010), it is likely the infamous Celestial Steed, also known as the Shiny Pony, released in April 2010.
The World of Warcraft player community stirred controversy when they discovered that the price of this mount was $25, not $15. In the first three hours of its release, the queue to purchase the mount stretched to seven hours, with 140,000 people waiting, resulting in millions of dollars in revenue within that short time frame.
“StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty” sold 1.5 million copies in the first two days and surpassed 6 million in sales by the end of 2012. In 2017, Wings of Liberty transitioned to a free-to-play model, yet the game’s lifetime revenue remains undisclosed.
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