Agreed.
It's a fair point, but there's definitely more to the history.
Ten years earlier, let's look at 1997:
- Final Fantasy VII
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
- GoldenEye 007
- Banjo-Kazooie
- Fallout
- Age of Empires
- Diablo
- Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
- Grand Theft Auto
- Planescape: Torment
And crucially... It was 2000 when we received Counter-Strike. This game undoubtedly started the competitive gaming scene, and opened up new avenues for expansion and profitability, with the potential of vast sportlike eyeballs and sponsorships.
Don't disagree, but Quake already had a competitive scene before counterstrike with prize pools + tournaments too.
Yes, crucial omission - and that was 1996!
One big difference to note: Quake in 1996 didn't host central infrastructure or have any expectations of recurring revenue. By 2007 things had changed. WOW was built around Blizzard-hosted infra and recurring revenue as central design pillars.