

World of Warcraft ushered in the “games as a service” model, not the “pay to access online features” model. Warcraft doesn’t charge you for accessing the internet on your computer.
If WOW was available on console, you’d be paying Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo as well as Blizzard. That’s the difference. They are similar, but WOW didn’t cause consoles to go pay only for online games.
Not for the corporations that make money off of extorting a basic necessity from poor people! Won’t someone think of the corporations?