Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is a real-time strategy game developed by Blizzard Entertainment and released for MS-DOS in North America on 15 November 1994; Interplay published it in Europe in 1995. It was first planned as a strategy adaptation of Warhammer, but Blizzard could not get the licence from Games Workshop and built its own world instead. Sam Didier suggested the name Warcraft, which Allen Adham said sounded super cool.
The game had no script: Bill Roper improvised the plot in the recording studio and was also the only voice actor. Two-player matches over modem or local network helped convince a wider audience that multiplayer was essential for real-time strategy.
A Mac version arrived in early 1996. The sequel, Warcraft II, became the main rival of Westwood's Command & Conquer and helped fuel an RTS boom in the mid- to late 1990s. Warcraft I: Remastered was released in November 2024.1
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | Warcraft: Orcs & Humans | MS-DOS | Nov 15, 1994 | Blizzard Entertainment | 1 |
| NA | Warcraft: Orcs & HumansClassic Mac OS version, released in early 1996, about a year after the DOS version. | Mac | 1996 | — | 1 |
| NA | Warcraft: Orcs & HumansBudget re-release. | MS-DOS | March 2002 | Sold-Out Software | 1 |
| EU | Warcraft: Orcs & Humans | MS-DOS | 1995 | Interplay Productions | 1 |
| WW | Warcraft: Orcs & HumansGOG.com release, DRM-free and bundled with a preconfigured DOSBox. | Windows | Mar 28, 2019 | — | 2 |
| WW | Warcraft I: RemasteredRemaster released together with a Warcraft II remaster. | Windows | November 2024 | Blizzard Entertainment | 1 |
Also known as: Warcraft WW1Warcraft 1 WW1Военное ремесло: Орки и люди RU3Tácticas de guerra: orcos y humanos ES4
Box art by region
NA Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: Wikipedia.
Version differences
-
GraphicsMac
The Mac version reused the DOS VGA graphics and did not take advantage of the Mac's higher resolution.1
-
GameplayDOSMac
DOS and Mac players could play against each other.1
-
Bug fixDOS 1.21+
Copy protection problems in early DOS versions go away after patching to version 1.21 or later; the GOG release is fully patched.2
Translations
-
Russian Fan
Открытый перевод Бюро Old-Games.RuMS-DOSReleased
PCGamingWiki lists a Russian fan translation by the Old-Games.Ru open translation bureau.2
How to run it today
The GOG release comes prepackaged with a configured DOSBox. If the window stays blank on Windows 10, change output=overlay to output=ddraw in dosbox_warcraft.conf. The fan-made Warcraft Mouse Helper adds modern mouse controls when the game runs in DOSBox.
- Warcraft: Orcs & Humans on PCGamingWiki pcgamingwiki.com
Reception
Sales passed 100,000 units within a year and reached about 300,000 copies in total. The game won a PC Gamer Editors' Choice award and the CES Winter 1995 Innovations Award.1
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
Spotted a mistake? Write to atlas@old-games.net.