Warcaft Subscriber Base Equal to a Large City

Blizzard Entertainment on Tuesday announced that the active global subscriber base for its massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft has now reached 11.5 million, which would place it 20th on the list of largest worldwide urban areas, by population. Only two American urban areas, Los Angeles and New York City, have more citizens.

The company credited the game's latest expansion pack, Wrath of the Lich King, with helping it reach that mark. Released November 13, Lich King sold over 2.8 million copies in its first 24 hours and has sold over 4 million copies during its first month, both of which are all-time PC game records.

 

A Death Knight posse

Blizzard defines World of Warcraft subscribers thus: "[They] include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules."