How different would things be then?

Apparently, Blizzard originally wanted World of Warcraft (the biggest cash cow in the history of MMOs) to be a free-to-play, advertising supported game. This leads you to wonder how would in-game ads even work in WoW? Well apparently they don't, which is why Blizzard chose the subscription method of things in the end or so says Rob Pardo.

"When were first going to make World of Warcraft, we wanted to make it free and advertising supported," Pardo said. "We didn't want to charge a subscription, but as we researched market conditions, we realized that wouldn't support us."

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