I'm just saying the signs of success were there pre-WoW.
There weren't in 1994. As mentioned, they hadn't even bought the company that made Diablo.
Sure Warcraft was their only hit at the time, but it was one of those games a lot of garnered a lot of attention and a benchmark in gaming.
Someone was wise enough to invest.
None, and nearly all of them. Lots of the talent that made successful games in 95 are still in the business.
Not of that list.
From Wikipedia (not that it's a totally reliable source), "Ex-Looking Glass personnel have worked on such games as Deus Ex, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Half-Life 2, Freedom Force, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Fallout 3, Bioshock..."
That's more than I expected! But I guess I just look at it differently than you, in that even though the companies have dissolved, the hearts and souls of these companies are still out there making the same type of games they initially got in the business to make.
And therein lies a huge part of the problem: talent isn't enough. Quality of games isn't enough. If a handful of people leave an entire studio can completely fall apart. Look at Rare.
Yes, it's business. It's a risk like any investment. That's what people like Kotick are paid to judge. I make the occassional mistake at my job, so does he obviously. Later on you can laugh at them, which I think is the point of this article -- only he may be crying inside at the same time.
JA is more a turn-based strategy. Dead. RTSs? Come on, how many are released each year? FPS of course are successful.
Fallout 3 has a system called V.A.T.S. which enables a turned-based strategy sequence in the game. In fact many modern games allow you to pause and employ strategy. I'd have to argue not dead. If there was a good way to bring RTS to consoles, you bet developers would be cranking them out. I'm sure someone is working on it. Meanwhile nearly every RTS release on PC has been pretty successful, even some surprise indy successes like Sins of a Solar Empire.
Nearly everyone in this thread not us.
Gotta love the Internet.