World of Warcraft Continues To Grow

World of Warcraft's subscriber base is continuing to grow, according to Blizzard parent company Vivendi, and has now broken 9.3 million users.

Released in 2004, the MMOG based in Blizzard's Warcraft universe was an immediate success, and has since grown to become the most popular MMOG in the world. The 9.3 million total subscriber base represents an increase of more than 1 million users since December 31, 2006, bolstered in part by the release of the game's first official expansion pack, The Burning Crusade, in January 2007. A second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, was announced in August, but the company has not yet issued a release date.

In a possibly connected development, Vivendi Games reported that nine-month fiscal period revenues jumped 49.8 percent to $1.05 billion, while net revenues for the company's third quarter increased 19 percent to $316.7 million.

"This strong increase is primarily driven by the continued momentum of Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft, its award-winning subscription-based massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) and the very successful first quarter 2007 release of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, Blizzard Entertainment's first World of Warcraft expansion. The Chinese version was released late in the third quarter," the company said in a statement.