Why a 15-year old classic is the most popular game in the world right now

WoW Classic is the hottest game in the world right now and the graphics are … not great

On 26th August 2019, the video game World of Warcraft Classic came out and it is now the most popular game on the live streaming platform Twitch. Bear with me while I tell you why this is interesting.

At risk of sounding like a massive loser I have been anticipating this release for the best part of 2 years. I even took a week off work to play it on release - the ‘staycation’ consisted mainly of Nando’s takeaway, Red Bull and Vitamin D tablets with the occasional 5-minute burpees sessions to avoid carpal tunnel from setting in (there wasn’t much “outside time”).

Bearing in mind this is a recreation of a 15-year old game, it’s pretty surprising that it’s topping the Twitch list and beating out the likes of Fortnite for the top spot!

So why is it so popular?

As the title of this blog suggests, it’s not because of the way it looks. The game’s graphics feel 15 years old, pretty tired and nowhere near the graphics offered by modern games on the market. For the loyal fanbase however, the graphics don’t matter, it’s all about recreating the amazing experiences they had 15 years ago when it first came out. The tight community of players, the storylines and lore and the nostalgia still means this game tops the ranks above anything released in the 15 years since.

WoW (2004)

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018)

So what this suggests is when it comes to games, you can use the best quality graphics in the market at that time and you still won’t have the best game. Incidentally this is also the case when it comes to making videos.

At Seenit, we often get asked “is the quality of the video content really going to be good enough?”

Our knee-jerk response to this is to ask how they define ‘quality’.

Generally when referring to video “quality” we’re talking about video that has a higher production value. These are the videos that use the best filming equipment and professional crew, rigs to capture the best angles and a super smooth script. There’s nothing wrong with looking for a polished finish, the problem is when producing it costs you an arm and a leg and doesn’t get the response you were looking for.

An example of 'high quality' UGC

At Seenit we’re on a mission to get people to think about how they define ‘quality’ when it comes to making video. The most important thing is to create something that resonates so much with your audience that they respond to it. This is tough in our increasingly crowded social feeds so you need something memorable.

It just so happens UGC is 35% more memorable than branded content, 50% more trusted and 8x more likely to be shared. You will likely have to forgo having a top of the line polished finish, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing - in fact its actually the reason why UGC gets such a good response. Where pro video can sometimes feel rehearsed, UGC is conversational, raw, unscripted and relatable - plus we’re exposed to it all the time through Insta, Snapchat and … TikTok (so I hear).

After 15 years World of Warcraft Classic is still the most popular game in the world. That’s because more recently game studios have been so transfixed on creating beautiful productions they’ve forgotten about what matters the most. Could the same also be said for video production?

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