Blizzard Ships More World of WarCraft to European Stores

Blizzard has announced that the European shortage of its ultra-popular World of WarCraft MMORPG will be ending soon, as it ships another 250,000 copies to retail on April 15th throughout the continent. The 250,000 new units join the over 620,000 already sold, contributing to a total of nearly 900,000 copies of the PC MMO circulating throughout Europe. The new copies will contain 10-day Guest Passes, which allow players to lend the game to a friend, who can use the pass to try it for a limited amount of time. The new install will stop working after 10 days, and if the other player wants to continue using his or her character, he or she must buy another retail copy of the game. Commenting on the new shipment, Blizzard president Mike Morhaime said: "The success of World of Warcraft has proven our belief in Europe as a strong online gaming market. We are delighted to now be in a position to provide more boxes to retail and to welcome more players into the game." Gamasutra recently reported on the latest statistics for World Of WarCraft, which revealed that the subscriber base has reached a record 1.5 million users, with Europe having over 500,000 active subscriptions.