Blizzard is pleased to announce that World of Warcraft will release in Europe in early 2005. This will follow a final beta test, which is currently scheduled to start in December 2004.

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 (£29.99 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 (£44.99 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 (£8.99 in the UK), the three-month plan will cost €11.99 per month (£8.39 in the UK), and the six-month plan will cost €10.99 per month (£7.69 in the UK).

Będzie final europe beta do której bedą miały zagwarantowany wstęp osoby które zamówiły preorder.

This will follow a final beta test, which is currently scheduled to start in December 2004.

Blizzard is therefore strongly advising European players not to buy the North American version of the game, as access to North American servers will be limited to residents of North America , Australia and New Zealand