December 23, 2008
World of Warcraft Subscriber Base
Reaches 11.5 Million Worldwide
Wrath of the Lich KingTM
expansion fuels growth with record first-month sales of more than 4 million
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today
announced that World of Warcraft®, its award-winning subscription-based
massively multiplayer online role-playing game, is now played by more than 11.5
million subscribers worldwide. This new high was reached following the November
13 release of the game’s second expansion, Wrath of the Lich KingTM.
Within its first 24 hours of
availability, Wrath of the Lich King sold more than 2.8 million copies, making
it the fastest-selling PC game of all time. In addition to winning a number of
editor’s choice awards from major gaming publications, the expansion has now
gone on to sell more than 4 million copies in its first month, setting a new
record for monthly PC-game sales. Both sales records were previously held by
World of Warcraft’s first expansion, The Burning Crusade®.*
"We’re pleased to welcome the new
and returning players who have helped World of Warcraft reach these new
milestones, and we appreciate the enthusiasm and support that the game’s global
community has continued to show," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of
Blizzard Entertainment®. "We look forward to providing all of them with an
excellent entertainment experience for a long time to come."
"Not only is Wrath of the Lich King
still doing well, the base World of Warcraft game and the World of Warcraft
Battle Chest® are performing better than last year," said Bob McKenzie, senior
vice president of merchandising at GameStop. "That type of traction is very
impressive for a game that is going into its fifth holiday season and speaks to
the enthusiastic player base Blizzard Entertainment products have."
To keep pace with the continued
growth of World of Warcraft as well as development on other Blizzard
Entertainment games, the company is currently hiring for numerous open
positions. More information on available career opportunities can be found at
www.blizzard.com/jobs. More
information about the latest World of Warcraft expansion is available at the
official Wrath of the Lich King website:
www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath.
World of Warcraft’s Subscriber
Definition
World of Warcraft subscribers
include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid
card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and
are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have
accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The
above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions,
expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in
licensees’ territories are defined along the same rules.