BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT® ANNOUNCES WORLD OF WARCRAFT®
RELEASE PLANS FOR EUROPE
European launch plans unveiled for highly anticipated
massively multiplayer online game
22 November, 2004 - Paris, France:
Blizzard Entertainment® today announced the launch plans in Europe for World of Warcraft®, its highly anticipated massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Blizzard also confirmed that the game will release in Europe in early 2005. Pre-orders for World of Warcraft will be available at retail on November 26, 2004.
"We're extremely proud of World of Warcraft, and in particular, its accessibility to players of all abilities, from hardcore to casual gamers," said Mike Morhaime, president and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We are confident that the commitment we're making with regard to local European servers and support staff will create an unprecedented gaming experience for the thousands of gamers who will come to experience and enjoy World of Warcraft."
European Product Packaging and Pricing
World of Warcraft will be available in Europe for Windows ® 98/ME/2000/XP and Macintosh ® at a suggested retail price of €44.99 (?9.99 in the UK), and will include a free one-month subscription to the game. The game and packaging will be fully localised in English, French and German; a localised box and manual will be available for Spanish and Italian players. For the initial shipment, the standard edition of World of Warcraft will be available in all of the aforementioned languages in two unique box covers representing the major factions of the world - Alliance and Horde. Both boxes include the full version of the game on four CD-ROM disks.
The special collector's edition of World of Warcraft will also be available at launch, in limited quantities, for a suggested retail price of €69.99 (?4.99 in the UK). The game, box and manual will be available in English, French and German; the box and manual will also be localised into Spanish and Italian. The special collector's edition will include the World of Warcraft game on both CD-ROM and DVD, a free one-month subscription, a World of Warcraft behind-the-scenes DVD in English, an exclusive in-game pet, a cloth map of the game world, a soundtrack CD, an Art of the World of Warcraft coffee table book, and a commemorative game manual signed by the development team.
After the initial free one-month subscription ends, players of World of Warcraft will be able to continue playing under one of three different subscription plans. The month-to-month subscription plan will cost €12.99* per month (?.99 in the UK), the three-month plan will cost €11.99 per month (?.39 in the UK), and the six-month plan will cost €10.99 per month (?.69 in the UK).
Local Support in Europe
World of Warcraft is supported in Europe by the local Blizzard team. The European Blizzard Entertainment team, made up of more than 10 nationalities, is responsible for all aspects of game and platform operation, including localised offline customer support, community management, and in-game support through French, German and English speaking game masters. In addition, the local web, marketing and communications teams provide support and tools for the community, trade and press. World of Warcraft is the first non-licensed MMORPG in Europe to have the support of a dedicated local team.
Following the huge worldwide demand for World of Warcraft evidenced in recent Beta Tests, Blizzard will establish regional servers specific to each geographical location to increase performance and support for World of Warcraft worldwide. European players will therefore initially play on any of the European servers in English, French or German. Retaining players on their own geographical servers at release will ensure the stability of the technical infrastructure installed in each territory, and will allow for the best possible customer support for players in their local language at the local time.
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