Blizzard admits to 'grossly underestimating demand' for World of Warcraft in 2004

If World of Warcraft is credited with a smooth initial launch, that's only because time tends to smooth over the growing pains that come with every MMO. Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce was quite up-front with the studio's stumbles in 2004 as WoW launched to unprecedented demand; he's admitted that Blizzard execs "grossly underestimated" how many people wanted to play the game, forcing the company to cease shipping boxes to stores while tech was improved to deal with the influx.

"I don't think we had any idea what we were getting ourselves into," Pearce said at the recent DICE executive summit. The studio quickly ramped up from its 500-employee taskforce to 4,700 people in 11 cities across the world.

Pearce also addressed the issue of addiction in MMOs, saying that Blizzard "think[s] about it all of the time. If there's something that you're really passionate about, whether it's video games, a book, a TV series [or something else]... we have to consume it in moderation."