Alliance and Horde Armies Grow with Launch of Mists of Pandaria

Following the September 25 global rollout of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, the new expansion to the world's #1 subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that millions of players have already joined the fight for Pandaria. During the first week of launch, prior to the release in China on October 2, the expansion had already sold through approximately 2.7 million copies and the game's global player base passed 10 million subscribers, with growth across all major regions.^*
 
"With Mists of Pandaria, we set out to expand on the sense of fun and discovery that's always been at the heart of World of Warcraft -- in addition to adding a huge variety of new content and features to the game," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "It's been gratifying to see the results of all of the work we put into this expansion and to hear all of the positive feedback from players so far."

The World of Warcraft development team is already hard at work on the first major post-launch content update. Further details, including features and release timing, will be provided in the weeks ahead.

In World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, warships of the Alliance and Horde clash off the coast of a long-lost continent, signaling the start of a new era of discovery and conquest in the history of Azeroth. As players storm the shores of this exotic new frontier and begin to explore its mysteries, they'll encounter brave new allies, unearth ancient secrets, and play their part in reigniting the long-brewing conflict between the Horde and Alliance on a strange battlefield far from home.

Mists of Pandaria is available now on DVD-ROM for Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7 and Macintosh at a suggested retail price of $39.99 USD. The expansion is also available digitally directly from Blizzard's World of Warcraft website (www.WorldofWarcraft.com), also priced at $39.99 USD.

A special Collector's Edition packed with bonus items is also now available exclusively in retail stores at a suggested retail price of $79.99 USD. In addition to the game disc, the Collector's Edition contains:

• World of Warcraft Imperial Quilen flying mount and Lucky Quilen Cub pet, StarCraft II Battle.net portraits, and Diablo III banner sigil and accent
• The Art of Mists of Pandaria, a 208-page hardback tome including never-before-seen artwork from the development process
• A World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria behind-the-scenes DVD and Blu-ray two-disc set including over an hour of developer interviews and commentary
• The World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Collector's Edition soundtrack CD
• A special-edition World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria mouse pad featuring Chen Stormstout, the legendary pandaren brewmaster

For the first time, World of Warcraft players also have the option to purchase a special Digital Deluxe version of Mists of Pandaria (suggested retail price $59.99 USD) via the World of Warcraft website (www.WorldofWarcraft.com) or by purchasing an activation code at select retailers. The Digital Deluxe edition includes a full digital copy of Mists of Pandaria as well as the digital items from the retail-exclusive Collector's Edition. Players who purchase the standard edition digitally or at retail will have the option to upgrade to the Digital Deluxe version at any time (for as long as the standalone Digital Deluxe version remains available) for an additional $20 USD.

Mists of Pandaria offers a wide variety of content for new and returning World of Warcraft players. Features include a new playable race (the pandaren) with its own starting zone and quests, a new character class (the monk), and an expansive new continent for players to explore as they adventure to the new level cap of 90. The expansion also includes a host of new gameplay elements designed to give players even more ways to enjoy the game, including scenarios -- a flexible new kind of cooperative PvE trial; challenge modes, which offer high-prestige rewards for mastering Mists of Pandaria's 5-player dungeons; and an all-new pet battle system. 

Mists of Pandaria has received a Teen rating from the ESRB. In addition to the English version, Mists of Pandaria is available fully localized into Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, European Spanish, Russian, Korean, traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese, and for the first time with a World of Warcraft expansion launch, Italian.

For more information about World of Warcraft and Mists of Pandaria, visit http://www.WorldofWarcraft.com.