'World of Warcraft' surpasses 11 million player mark

By Hector Cortez Oct 28, 2008, 19:19 GMT

Blizzard Entertainment announced today that the subscribership for World of Warcraft now exceeds 11 million players worldwide.

Blizzard Entertainment announced today that the subscribership for World of Warcraft now exceeds 11 million players worldwide. This milestone was reached as the beta test for Wrath of the Lich King, World of Warcraft’s second expansion, nears completion. Wrath of the Lich King will launch in several regions around the world starting on November 13.

“It’s been very rewarding to see gamers around the world continue to show such strong support for World of Warcraft,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We remain fully committed to responding to that enthusiasm with a high-quality, constantly evolving game experience.”

Since debuting in North America on November 23, 2004, World of Warcraft has become the most popular MMORPG around the world. It was the bestselling PC game of 2005 and 2006 worldwide, and finished behind only World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, the first expansion pack for the game, in 2007. In addition to being the bestselling PC game of 2007 in both North America and Europe, The Burning Crusade holds the record for fastest-selling PC game of all time, with nearly 2.4 million copies sold in its first 24 hours of availability and approximately 3.5 million in its first month.

World of Warcraft was recently launched in Russia and Latin America, and is currently available in eight languages. In addition to North America and Europe, the game is played in mainland China, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Chile, Argentina, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.