Very few have ever been able to match what Blizzard Entertainment has done. In less than 15 years, they went from a small independent developer to partners in one of the largest publishing houses in the world. What’s more, they did it not by doling out a hot first-person shooter to compete with Quake or releasing a fighter to take a bite out of Mortal Kombat. Instead, they took niche genres and brought them to the mainstream in ways no one would have ever thought possible.

We might all be anxiously awaiting the latest news on Diablo III and Starcraft II, but we’d like to take this opportunity to look back at the greatest Blizzard franchise of them all, Warcraft. From its humble beginnings as one of the first games as its kind, to the biggest online game in the world, Warcraft has stayed one step ahead. With BlizzCon just around the corner, we take a look back at the series that catapulted Blizzard to international fame.

Blizzard wasn’t always the household name they are now. When the company was first founded in February of 1991, they were known by the less catchy moniker Silicon & Synapse, and their start was plenty rough. To get off the ground, its founding members funded their payroll with cash advances on their personal credit cards, while the team struggled to rush out a game before the money ran out. The Blizzard of today is notorious for developments that go on for years past expectations, but in 1991, they didn’t have that luxury. Within four months, they managed to develop their first title, RPM Racing, but even that was far from enough to give them financial stability. To make ends meet they took on contract work, porting popular PC games to Mac and Amiga.

The investment paid off. Before long, Silicon & Synapse was cranking out original properties for Interplay like Rock & Roll Racing (a pseudo-sequel to RPM), the legendary puzzle-platformer The Lost Vikings, and the cinematic platformer Blackthorne, all remembered as classics of the 16-bit era. Next >>

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