Blizzard

Gamer Files Class Action Against "World of Warcraft" Gold Farmer

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 7, 2007 - 10:56am.

Irvine, Calif. - A class action suit has been filed by a veteran player of Blizzard Entertainment's "World of Warcraft" (WoW) multiplayer game against a company called IGE, a "gold farmer" that recruits players to accrue virtual gold to sell to WoW players for real-world money, The Escapist reported.

Blizzard Sues Virtual Gold Sellers for Spamming "World of Warcraft" Players

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 1, 2007 - 12:27pm.

Irvine, Calif. - Blizzard Entertainment, the unit of Vivendi Games that operates the popular "World of Warcraft" multiplayer online game, has filed a federal lawsuit against a company it says has spammed players with ads for its service that sells virtual gold used in the game, Wired News reported.

AT&T Offers 14-Day Free Trial of Blizzard's "World of Warcraft"

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 5, 2007 - 3:49pm.

San Antonio, Texas - AT&T announced on Thursday that it has partnered with Vivendi's Blizzard Entertainment to offer a 14-day free trial of the popular "World of Warcraft" massively multiplayer online game. The AT&T blue room gaming site will host the offer, which figures as the longest free trial of the game available online. "World of Warcraft" currently claims 8.5 million players, while AT&T counts 12 million high speed Internet lines.

tags: Games | AT&T | Blizzard | Vivendi | Blue Room | WoW |

Vivendi Games' Blizzard Details Third "Worldwide Invitational"

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 8, 2007 - 5:09pm.

Irvine, Calif. - Vivendi Games' Blizzard Entertainment on Thursday announced details of its third Worldwide Invitational, a public event where the company connects with players of its "Warcraft," "Diablo" and "StarCraft" titles, and hosts a range of gamer tournaments. This year's event will be held in Seoul, South Korea on May 19-20, and will feature the first season for its World of Warcraft's Arena Tournament.

"World of Warcraft" Expansion Sets One-Month PC Game Sales Record

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 7, 2007 - 4:58pm.

Irvine, Calif. - Vivendi Games' Blizzard Entertainment said on Wednesday that "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade," the first expansion for its title that figures as the world's most popular massively multiplayer online roleplaying game, sold 3.5 million copies within a month of its release in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. The figure represents a new one-month record for PC game sales, and includes more than 1.9 million copies sold in regions that play on North American realms. The "World of Warcraft" worldwide subscriber base has now grown to more than 8.5 million.

Blizzard to Launch "World of Warcraft" Expansion in China

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 30, 2007 - 1:40pm.

Shanghai, China - Chinese online game operator The9 said on Tuesday that it has signed an amended agreement with Vivendi's Blizzard Entertainment, to additionally publish the recently released expansion pack to Blizzard's "World of Warcraft" massively multiplayer online game in mainland China. The companies did not say when "The Burning Crusade" would launch in China.

tags: Games | China | Blizzard | The9 | MMORPG | WoW |

"World of Warcraft" Expansion Sets Day-One PC Game Sales Record

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 23, 2007 - 1:04pm.

Irvine, Calif. - Vivendi's Blizzard Entertainment game publishing unit announced on Tuesday that "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade," the first expansion to its massively multiplayer online game, broke the day-one sales record to become the fastest-selling PC game ever in North America and Europe.

tags: Games | Blizzard | Sales | Vivendi | MMORPG | WoW |

Online Game "World of Warcraft" Passes 8 Million Subscribers Worldwide

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 11, 2007 - 9:46am.

Irvine, Calif. - Vivendi's video game publishing unit Blizzard Entertainment announced on Thursday that its "World of Warcraft" massively multiplayer online roleplaying game -- the most popular title of its type ever created -- has now surpassed 8 million paying subscribers worldwide.

Napster Creator Fanning to Launch Game Community Site Rupture

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 4, 2006 - 2:46pm.
New York - Napster creator Shawn Fanning plans to launch a virtual social community for online gamers called Rupture in the coming weeks, Business Week reported.

"World of Warcraft" Subs Hit 7.5 Million; Expansion Due Jan. 16

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2006 - 2:10pm.
Irvine, Calif. - Continuing the meteoric rise of its massively multiplayer online game, Blizzard Entertainment announced on Thursday that "World of Warcraft" now claims 7.5 million players worldwide.

Blizzard Delays "World of Warcraft" Expansion Pack to January

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 23, 2006 - 10:09pm.
Irvine, Calif. - Vivendi Games' Blizzard Entertainment unit announced on Tuesday that it will delay the release of an anticipated expansion pack for its top-selling PC online multiplayer game "World of Warcraft" until January, missing the key holiday sales period. Irvine, Calif.-based Blizzard began closed-beta testing on "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade" earlier this month. "By adding a few extra weeks to the development cycle beyond its original target date, Blizzard will be able to extend the closed beta test and further refine the new content that will ship with the game," the company said in a statement. "World of Warcraft" currently claims over 6.5 million subscribers.

Blizzard, Legendary Pictures Team on Live-Action "Warcraft" Movie

Authored by dmw on May 9, 2006 - 5:11pm.
Irvine, Calif. - Blizzard Entertainment, a game publishing label within Vivendi Games, announced on Tuesday that it has signed an agreement with production company Legendary Pictures ("Superman Returns," "Batman Begins") to create a live-action feature film based on Blizzard's "Warcraft" game franchise. Since launching in 1994, Blizzard has released several Warcraft titles, the most popular being "World of Warcraft," a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game that claims over 6 million subscribers worldwide. The companies said that details such as naming a director, cast and release date would be announced in coming months.

Vivendi's Blizzard Takes Flak Over LGBT Guilds in "World of Warcraft"

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 30, 2006 - 7:29am.
Los Angeles - Vivendi Universal's Blizzard Entertainment game publishing studio has come under fire for allegedly preventing users from setting up player guilds based on sexual orientation within its popular "World of Warcraft" online game, GamesIndustry.biz reported. WOW subscriber Sara Andrews said she plans to cancel her account after being denied the ability to set up a "GLBT-friendly" guild. "Topics related to sensitive real-world subjects -- such as religious, sexual, or political preference, for example -- have had a tendency to result in communication between players that often breaks down into harassment," Blizzard told GamesIndustry.biz. "It seems to be okay for general chat to be flooded with [these terms], yet advertising for a GLBT friendly environment where we don't have to deal with such language is deemed inappropriate," Andrews replied. Blizzard said it plans to change language in the game's policies to "help avoid such confusion in the future."

Blizzard Launches "World of Warcraft" in Taiwan, Hong Kong

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 8, 2005 - 9:39am.
Irvine, Calif. - Blizzard Entertainment, a unit of Vivendi Universal Games, announced on Tuesday that its "World of Warcraft" massively multiplayer online roleplaying game has launched in the region of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. The online game will be hosted in the region by Soft-World and GFI. Irvine, Calif.-based Blizzard said that a beta test of the game in the region attracted 800,000 players, with a peak of 140,000 concurrent players. "World of Warcraft" currently counts 4.5 million subscribers worldwide.

Vivendi's Blizzard Wins Case Over Rival Battle.net Online Game Servers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 11, 2004 - 2:34am.
Los Angeles -- A federal judge has ruled that Vivendi Universal's Blizzard Entertainment video game publishing division was acting within the law when it blocked a third-party company from offering software enabling users to host their own online tournaments for its "StarCraft" and "Diablo" online multiplayer games. Blizzard runs its own in-house online game service for the titles at Battle.net. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri ruled that St. Louis-based ISP Internet Gateway's BnetD software violated both Blizzard's software's license agreements, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The ruling prohibits Internet Gateway from further distributing its BnetD software.