Rob Fahey
10:12 (BST)
05/11/2004
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World of Warcraft to launch November 23rd in North America
Blizzard's massively multiplayer opus will be with you shortly, if you're in America or Down Under
Hugely anticipated PC massively multiplayer title World of Warcraft is set to launch in North America later this month, with developer Blizzard announcing a November 23rd date for the title which will be "shortly followed" by Asian and European launches.
The huge RPG title places players in the world created by the popular WarCraft series of strategy games, and is one of the most anticipated PC games ever - with tens of thousands of players attempting to get onto the closed beta tests which Blizzard conducted earlier this year.
Gamers in Australia and New Zealand will also be able to get their hands on the title later this month, as the title will launch in their countries simultaneously with the US launch. No firm date has yet been given for the Korean or European launches, which will be coordinated from specifically founded Blizzard Korea and Blizzard Europe offices.
However, the European beta testing procedure is still in progress, which suggests that the title may take several weeks more to arrive here - almost certainly pushing it into the early weeks of 2005, as has been previously suggested on a number of occasions.
"World of Warcraft has been our largest undertaking to date," according to Blizzard president Mike Morhaime. "When we set out to create a massively multiplayer online game, our goal was to expand the scope of the Warcraft universe by offering an incredibly dynamic game experience. We're extremely proud of the game we've created, and we believe players will be very pleased when they see what we have in store for them."
Players purchasing the title will have a one-month free subscription, followed by three options for continuing their subscription - a one month subscription costing $14.99, or signing up for three months at $13.99 per month or six months at $12.99 per month. The firm also plans to encourage gamers not old enough to own a credit card to subscribe, by accepting PayPal payments and selling pre-paid game cards in videogame stores.
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