Even without WoW, Blizzard (I've no doubt in my mind) would continue to succeed, because later on Diablo 2 would sell 4 million units worldwide.

You knew this in 1995, before Diablo was announced? When Diablo was being made by Condor games, prior to Blizzard buying Condor in 1996?

And no, the closest counterpart to Blizzard (imho) in terms of success was id, and they released Doom in 1993.

Seriously? Doom sold 5 million copies. The original Warcraft didn't even hit 1 million. And, for the record, Blizzard was sold before the Warcraft 2 launch. And, for the record, Blizzard was sold before it was called Blizzard. Kotick is wrong, Blizzard was sold in 1994.

Other top games of 1995 include:
Marathon 2 (Bungie)
Warhammer (Mindscape)
Command & Conquer (Westwood)
Jagged Alliance (Sir-Tech)
Descent (Parallax)
Flight Unlimited (Looking Glass)
Heroes of Might and Magic (New World Computing)
Destruction Derby (Psygnosis)
I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream (Cyberdreams)


How many of these companies are still around?
How many of these companies, if you put $7 million into them in 1995, would have paid off? Bungie, Blizzard and...
How many of these games are genres that are even profitable now? No, Warcraft pretty much isn't.

And you still think Kotick is braindead for not knowing this?