As the eleventh inductee, Morhaime will be honored for his efforts and contributions to the massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) space through Blizzard Entertainment’s spectacularly popular World of Warcraft, as well as the tremendous success of the company’s Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo series. In particular, World of Warcraft has cemented Morhaime’s influence and impact on the multi-billion dollar interactive entertainment industry; it is the world’s largest online game, with more than 9.3 million subscribers. Morhaime and Blizzard Entertainment are recognized for creating an MMOG that expanded the traditionally hardcore audience of the genre to also include the broader casual-gaming audience.
“This is a great honor, and I’m proud to receive it,” said Morhaime. “The success that Blizzard Entertainment has had over the years would not have been possible without the enthusiasm and support of players around the world, and the passion and dedication of our employees, so I thank all of them for contributing to this achievement.”
Morhaime will join an elite group of 10 other interactive entertainment industry luminaries in the AIAS Hall of Fame:
- Trip Hawkins (Electronic Arts)
- Peter Molyneux (Lionhead Studios)
- Yu Suzuki (Sega of America)
- Will Wright (Maxis)
- John Carmack (id Software)
- Hironobu Sakaguchi (Square Enix)
- Sid Meier (Firaxis Games)
- Shigeru Miyamoto (Nintendo)
- Richard Garriott (Origin Systems)
- Dan Bunten - known later in life as Danielle Bunten Berry (Ozark Softscape).
At this year’s 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, taking place on February 7, 2008 at Red Rock Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Morhaime will be presented the honor by Dr. Ray Muzyka, CEO of BioWare Corp. In addition, Morhaime is also part of the dynamic speaker line-up during the upcoming D.I.C.E Summit taking place in conjunction with the Awards.