# World of Warcraft

> Blizzard's online role-playing game reached 12 million subscribers.

- Owner: Blizzard Entertainment
- Kind: Game
- Sector: Gaming
- Seed date: 2004-11-23
- Milestone date: 2010-10-07
- Date basis: Documented milestone; not a measured attention peak.
- Spread Score: 53 (Notable, provisional), v1.3
- Mechanics: Identity badge, Platform jump, Press loop, Controversy, Sell-out loop

## Summary

World of Warcraft launched in 2004; player videos and a virtual plague drew coverage, and South Park made an episode. Blizzard reported more than 12 million subscribers in 2010, then about 9.6 million at the end of 2012. Classic later brought players back.

## Timeline

- 2004-11-04 — Blizzard Entertainment (Press) — Blizzard announced a November launch in North America, Australia and New Zealand.
- 2004-11-23 — Blizzard Entertainment (Retail) — World of Warcraft went on sale in North America, Australia and New Zealand.
- 2004-11-25 — Joystiq (Press) — Joystiq covered the launch sales and the marketing campaign that supported them.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/world-of-warcraft

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “World of Warcraft.” Case HIS-01454. Spread Score v1.3: 53/100. Updated 2026-10-23. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-01454