Okay, so you’re a smart kid. You finished top of your class in your computer design course at the local community college. Now you’re hoping that your computer expertise will be able to translate into the high-paying world of video game design. You’ve had this idea in your head for quite some time about an MMORPG that you are certain will be the downfall of World of Warcraft. All you need is to scrounge up a little bit of cash, and you’ve got it, right?

Well, if you go that route you’ll need somewhere in the range of $1 billion, according to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick. Speaking at a meeting for investors, Kotick made the claim that it would take an investment of somewhere between $500 million and $1 billion to be able to take on World of Warcraft, and even then, there is no guarantee of success.

We don’t think that even if we made the $500 Million of $1 Billion-dollar investment to get a product out that we would even be successful doing it.

Of course, Activision was quick to this realization, and rather than spending upwards of a billion dollars in what would likely have been a failed attempt to battle Blizzard’s MMO, Activision simply merged with Blizzard.

The moral of this story? Don’t mess with WoW. At this point, the battle for MMO supremecy is a battle, not for first, not even for second (Guild Wars is a solid #2), but a battle for third between City of Heroes, Everquest II, Star Wars Galaxies, and about a dozen other MMO wannabes. Long live WoW.

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