I’m sure you’ve all seen the news that F13.net reported on: Blizzard spent 50 million Euros on WoW. Zats a lotta pasta! Even more, I’m fairly sure that does not include costs incurred by their partners like The9 in China for marketing and promotion, and may not include marketing costs even in the West. The real total, all things considered, is likely approaching $80 million.

It is humbling to note that one of our two in-development games has the largest budget, by far, any of our games has ever had and is still less than 1% of that figure. Happily, we’re not stupid enough to try to compete directly with Blizzard. Many of our players play WoW and our text MUDs both, and our graphical game is not targeting the same audience. It nevertheless feels a bit like standing at the foot of a God and staring upwards. Any grandiose thoughts you might have had about pulling a David and Goliath flee before the sheer immensity and power of the titan before you.

A thought floats by…

“Well, what if I stabbed him in the foot and then, when he went to punch me, leapt on his hand, ran up his arm, and slit his throat, Jaffe-style?”

A closer look, however, shows the sane dreamer that such a feat is better left to the heroes of myth and legend, and that the wise will be happy to live in the shadow of the mighty God, gathering nuggets of audience goodness that are not significant enough for him being to reach down and pluck for himself.