World Of Warcraft Interview: Celebrating 20 Years Of WoW, Netflix's The Remarkable Life of Ibelin & What It Means To Leave No Player Behind

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World of Warcraft

WoW 20 Year balloons in front of a screenshot from the remarkable life of ibelin

World of Warcraft is celebrating its 20th anniversary right now, and while that can mean a lot of in-game parties and festivities, it also inspires a lot of reflection on what the past two decades have meant for the game and its players. The virtual land of Azeroth has grown and evolved considerably over the years, as have the players that make up its communities. Friendships have been formed, love has blossomed, and players have found a world inside this game that allows them to flourish in ways they otherwise couldn't.

Part of this reflection is shown in the new Netflix documentary, The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, which tells the story of a young man named Mats Steen who passed away from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. While his physical body would not allow Mats to live life in the same way as many of his peers, he created a full life with friends and love within World of Warcraft, a space where he could run and jump and live like anyone else.

Recently, Screen Rant spoke with World of Warcraft's executive producer, Holly Longdale on all things WoW, including what the 20th anniversary means to the team at Blizzard, we well as the new Netflix documentary. Her thoughts on what World of Warcraft means, and the legacy that the game has created, hold a focus on the players and how much the gaming community has meant to her and everyone at Blizzard.

Netflix Documentary Of A World Of Warcraft Player

Screen Rant: When you hear stories such as the one that's detailed in the Netflix documentary, The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, and stories from people of all walks of life who've found joy, connections, community, even love through World of Warcraft, how does that make you and the whole team at Blizzard feel about the role that you play and the impact that's made through this game?

Holly Longdale: It's hard to express how we get foundationally shook and moved. The impact is incredibly real [...] I've participated in a number of things in this job, this being one of them. Meeting Robert, Mats’ father and his family, it does shake you to your core.

And you know, in the day-to-day when you're making video games, you're very much focused on the next moment, and to be reminded of how the work we do really impacts people's lives, we need it, frankly, because it's a really healthy reminder of how we all share in a human experience, even if it is a video game, and how impactful it can be.

I've talked to veterans who - through all of us, even in listening to it through tears - just how they felt rescued by this community and by this escape. People in all kinds of different sorts of recovery and agony, and it really is meaningful to us and a really healthy reminder, and it does help point us in good directions, like adding elements to the game that make it easier to play for people of differing abilities or fears, like arachnophobia was recently so hugely impactful. Oddly, for making video games, it makes your endeavors extremely meaningful.

Screen Rant: Wonderful, that is so great you got to go and meet with Mats’ family.

Holly Longdale: I have to say too, just spending time with him and the story and the journey, which you've seen, that he now advocates about the benefits of video games and communities online. You know, what a huge, enormous heart he and his family have. They're just, yeah, I love them.

Screen Rant: The documentary, Ibelin, it’s one that can resonate with many World of Warcraft players, myself included, in various different ways. WoW has served as a platform for the past two decades to bring [people] together and open up possibilities for people of all backgrounds and unique stories. How does that shape your decisions in making things for the game, particularly with things like this anniversary event?

Holly Longdale: So, we've gone through a pretty significant journey, or it’s probably significant to me because I've, you know, been working as the executive producer for the past couple of years, but we've learned that listening matters, and not just listening.

The direction now is: let's not overly talk about the things we want to do. Let's show it. Let's not just talk about it. And so, in everything we've been doing, and particularly with The Worldsoul Saga, when we announced that, that came from sitting in a room with Chris Metzen and a bunch of my leaders and talking about, this is a big moment. This is 20 years of this world we've been creating together, and ultimately, we don't own it. The players own it. They're the ones that bring it to life, and we should be honoring them with the biggest story we've ever told, starting with The War Within, and then even in this new journey, this is about "leave no player behind ."

Selfishly, I'm more of a casual player. So, it was very much like, give me my world to live in, give it to all of us. And so, there was a lot of effort spent to make our game more approachable. As we go into our 20th year and beyond, that's a guiding principle. We want anyone, no matter how you play, to be able to be who you want to be and live how you want to live in Azeroth , whether you're a roleplayer or even all the way to the end game, and high end, performance-wise or competitive.

And now, you know, we're seeing the reaction to that, the feedback has been so great, and we would, we would never say we're perfect, but dang, we want to be.

We're going to keep trying. As we try and serve all the different players we have the best way we can, and still ship stuff, because, you know, there is so much deliberate thought, and we do a lot of research and a lot of testing on what we're making to make WoW, easy to play, or fun to play, or approachable for anyone .

So, it's a journey of 20 years, and we're sort of taking stock now, and we're now headed towards the journey of the future, which is leave no player behind.

World Of Warcraft's Focus As It Enters The Next Decade

Making WoW Available For All

Screen Rant: In the past twenty years, WoW has continuously changed and evolved, facing Cataclysms and more. It feels like, as you alluded to earlier, this game has kind of taken on life of its own. It's just this rolling freight train that we're just along for the ride. What goes into the planning for new expansions like The War Within and the Worldsoul Saga to hold up its legacy while also continuing to evolve and grow?

Holly Longdale: I'm sure he would hate me talking about him, but with Chris Metzen coming back, and we've grown the team significantly, because, as you may have heard, we want to get our expansions out a little faster. So, a part of growth is being able to be focused at a larger scale.

You know, I'm going to shift my bias. I love Chris. He’s a great human being, and you may have heard me, or probably will hear me say this and repeat it, because I love it, but he goes to the team and asks them, "in everything we are doing, does it have thundering heart?" And everything is about that, and everything is measured by that. And where do we look for those? You know, the classic World of Warcraft whimsy and comedic relief between these moments of extreme gravity and emotion.

And also, you know, how do we relate to things from human experience? You can see a lot of the stories that our developers have created around some of their own personal journeys have made it into characters that you can see feedback from the audience relating to.

World Of Warcraft's 20th Anniversary characters and imagery

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Holly Longdale: So ultimately, when it comes down to it, there's the thundering heart piece, but also be ourselves. Our team is so incredibly passionate about the stories we tell and how the game plays and the experience people have, and they do put their heart and soul into it, and I think that's the gift of 20 years.

They take risks. They always think they're doing the right thing in the content they make, and that's important. It's important to take risks to be able to tell some stories. Not all of them work, but, man, a lot of them do, like, there's some of the simplest things. I'm not sure if you remember from Dragon flight, a quest line that we call Stay A While that was just a character. Yeah, a character telling stories. And that's who we are . We tell stories, we show stories. And I think as long as we hold on to that principle now and for the next 20 years, I think, you know, people will stay on this train.

WoW's History Is Full Of Personal Stories And Memories

Every Player Has Their Own Experience

Screen Rant: With so much talk about the past 20 years, and what's to come, but looking at the anniversary and what we've seen so far in WoW, I'm sure you have had many memories of your own come to mind, because I know that you've been a long time player! What are some of your favorite pieces of WoW history, personally, or memories large or small.

Holly Longdale: Well, there's a couple things. I tell this story a lot more because Azeroth and World of Warcraft is truly an escape for me. Even in the early days, I've talked often about, and I even did this recently in Classic as well, where I always start a Night Elf. Always. It's what I do. I've got just about every race, but my first character was a Night Elf Hunter. And I remember trying to figure out how to get to Ironforge from Teldrassil, which was like a 40-minute run. And, you know, there was no mount then so you're just trudging along the pathway.

And I've done it many times, but I remember the first time, even when I'm alone in the world, getting lost in the music and the beauty. And it was just, you know, yes, it's a 40 minute run, but there was something really immersive that really sold me on this game. I was in awe of it, that I could just enjoy the journey.

And then meeting people along the way, people that were also on the same journey, and looking to get through the pathway to the city that could be treacherous at times, and just joining together, like there was no barrier. Like, let's join up and do this together, and then staying with those people for the next 20, 30 minutes on this run, and then I've made a friend.

World of Warcraft 20th anniversary balloons with a mount and pet rewards shown in front

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Holly Longdale: Then take that original experience from like, 20 years ago, and now I'm married. My husband, he's played since the beginning as well. My son has started to play, and we're doing delves together, and we're running around, and we're explaining the world of Azeroth to him and what mining is about. You know, just going into these delves where he feels absolutely epic.

And, I love my stepson, he does exactly what I've always done in any zone I go into, particularly interiors in WoW, since the very beginning, I look up. Because there is not an inch of space in any zone in World of Warcraft that an artist hasn't paid attention to and cared about . And there's always detail on the ceilings. There's like detail in the sky. And that's just to me, it's always about look up and pay attention.

There's so much beauty there among the details on the gameplay, and I see it everywhere in our character designs. And to me, it's just being in Azeroth. Those are all of my memories are that: being with friends. Even friends of my parents, who it turned out their daughter, who was a similar age to me, was playing, WoW, so we ended up becoming good friends.

It's just, it's just so broad and extensive, how global this game really is. And, you know, even now, when people are like, what do you do? It's like, well, you know, I kind of run a game team. Work with a game team. Like, Oh, which one? Like, World of Warcraft. And I have yet to meet someone that doesn't know what that is. So, it's a real gift. It's been a gift to me, and I hope a gift to our players, and we want to keep it that way.

20 years is a long time. By the way, for context, I've said this before, Facebook just launched when the game launched. I remember signing up to get invited to Gmail. You know, it's just, and people were still on dial up when they started playing WoW. It's just so much has happened. And you know, I feel like I'm certainly a lucky one on this journey. In celebrating the 20th anniversary, going back those 20 years and celebrating, like all that awesome nostalgia of, yeah, wow, that was a long time ago. You know, we're still here!

A World of Warcraft player flying a dragon in the Dragonflight expansion

Screen Rant: You were talking about, the idea of "look up, and see all the details," and that's one reason why, whenever there's a new expansion, especially, I love being able to just be on the ground, walking around, running, riding a ground mount. Why was there the decision for War Within to immediately allow flying? I was surprised by that.

Holly Longdale: Yeah, it’s sort of a break from tradition. I think it's because we add features and those become a way to play for a large group of people.

And the reality is, Carrie, that you and I still exist. You and I are still going to be on the ground checking things out. We're going to get the detail that we want, that maybe other players, they just want to race off to the next zone and, you know, land right on top of the exclamation point for their quest, but that's not everyone's journey.

And I think our goal is to be mindful and thinking of the "leave no player behind," play whichever way you want, find the people that play the way you do, and just enjoy . The goal is to enjoy your time, right? So, yeah, we're just trying not to artificially gate, to have people play the way we think they should play, is ultimately what we came to.

Screen Rant: I know we are running out of time, so one last question. If you could talk to Ibelin, if you could talk to Mats Steen right now, or any of the players like him in this community for whom World of Warcraft just means so much in their lives. What would you want them to know?

Holly Longdale: That we love them back. We exist because of them, and we do this because of them, and there's no greater honor and privilege when it comes to a creative endeavor like this. They're a blessing. He's a blessing.

The Remarkable Life of Ibelin is available to stream now on Netflix.