Welcome World of Warcraft Gamers!
World of Warcraft (commonly known as WoW) is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game. It is Blizzard Entertainment's fourth game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994. World of Warcraft takes place within the world of Azeroth, four years after the events at the conclusion of Blizzard's previous release, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Blizzard Entertainment announced World of Warcraft on September 2, 2001. The game was released on November 23, 2004, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise. It is currently the world's largest MMORPG in terms of monthly subscribers.
The first official expansion pack of the game, The Burning Crusade, was released on January 16, 2007. Blizzard announced a second expansion pack called Wrath of the Lich King on August 3, 2007. The release date of Wrath of the Lich King has not yet been announced.
WoW has become increasingly referenced in popular culture as a result of the game's popularity. Notable examples include the South Park episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft" and the Louisville World Series of Video Games competition in which World of Warcraft was a featured game. WoW itself also contains references to pop culture within the game. The popularity of the game has also led to a board game and a collectible card game based on WoW.
