of the Horde and defeat of its human captors. Thrall and his father Durotan, also created for Warcraft Adventures, played major parts in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft and the 2016 film Warcraft. Wes Fenlon of PC Gamer US wrote in 2016, "Few canceled games can claim to have as much impact as Lord of the Clans, and in the end it seems like Thrall was more valuable than the game itself." In 2017, Alex Cachinero-Gorman wrote that Warcraft Adventures "spawn[ed] wistful retrospectives every few years". PC Gamer US named it one of the "Greatest Games (Never Made)" in 1998, and included it in a list of the "10 Cancelled PC Games We Still Want To Play" in 2011. Its development was also the subject of a long "PC Gaming Graveyard" feature by GameSpot, the site's first in this series. However, in response to questions about the game's revival in 2009, Samwise Didier remarked, "DVDs are really popular because of deleted scenes, but when you watch them you can see why they weren't included in the movie. That's what Warcraft Adventures is." The cancellation of Warcraft Adventures is often cited as an example of Blizzard's "willingness to cancel a game late in development to protect the quality of their brand", according to Cachinero-Gorman. It was among a years-long string of cancellations at Blizzard, including Pax Imperia 2, Shattered Nations, Crixa, Nomad and Starcraft: Ghost, alongside the Titan project canceled in 2014 after roughly seven years' development. Calling this trend the key to Blizzard's success in 2016, Kat Bailey of USgamer regarded Warcraft Adventures cancellation a wise choice for Blizzard's brand, as otherwise "it might still be an object of ridicule today." Leaks and reaction A Russian fan under the pseudonym "MAN-Biker" leaked gameplay footage of Warcraft Adventures via a YouTube video in 2010. According to PC Gamer US, he had received his copy from a Russian game developer in the late 2000s, although this developer had not personally worked on Warcraft Adventures. After the video's deletion, MAN-Biker posted a beginning-to-end longplay of the game in 2014. However, this version of the game lacked cutscenes. A complete, playable Warcraft Adventures, including its cutscenes, was leaked online by a Russian Blizzard fan with the screen name "reidor" on September 9, 2016. Reidor told PC Gamer US that he had been sent the files by an unnamed third party.