Blizzard Entertainment announced that World of Warcraft, the company's subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), has surpassed two million paying subscribers worldwide. As the game's worldwide population continues to grow, so does the game itself: Blizzard recently introduced the highly anticipated player-vs.-player (PvP) Honor System and the game's first two Battlegrounds, Alterac Valley and Warsong Gulch. These new PvP battlefields offer a variety of fast-paced combat and some of the most valuable rewards yet seen in the game.
Many thought that Blizzard would be overwhelmed by the unexpected success WoW but instead the company is already working on a variety of WoW updates, Stracraft: Ghost and a few other top secret projects, even finding time to discuss WoW on XBox 360.
In a recent E3 chat, Blizzard's VP of business operations, Paul Sams, claimed that the company had been approached by Microsoft in order to discuss WoW on XBox Live once XBox 360 is launched. Mr. Sams made it clear that Blizzard remains interested in such a collaboration but is determined to stay true to the game and unwilling to sacrifice any of its features. This would mean that a console version would require some form of mouse and keyboard peripheral and that raised a few questions. Traditionally console peripherals do not sell well and that could have a negative impact on WoWs chances of success on the platfrom. Despite the problems Blizzard does seem willing to discuss the format and possibilities in an attempt to work things out since the success of WoW almost demands some form of console version of the game.
World of Warcraft recently surpassed the two million mark for paying subscribers. Already the largest MMO in North America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, Blizzard expects to see even greater growth with the recent commercial launch in China on June 7, 2005. Anticipation for World of Warcraft was already at an all-time high in China, with peak concurrency during the open beta test topping 500,000 players, nearly equal to World of Warcraft's peak concurrency in all three current markets combined. Blizzard expects to see the new mark of two million subscribers shattered quickly with the arrival of players from China in the coming weeks.
Later in the year, World of Warcraft will also launch in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.
Even as World of Warcraft debuts in new markets, Blizzard continues to develop new content to keep the game relevant and exciting for current and incoming players. The recent deployment of Battlegrounds illustrates Blizzard's commitment to enhancing the World of Warcraft experience for all its players worldwide. Additional Battlegrounds and more content updates are scheduled throughout the year and beyond.
