Blizzard Signs Deal to Bring The Burning Crusade to China

Blizzard Entertainment announced a deal that will bring The Burning Crusade, World of Warcraft's first expansion, to mainland China. The deal partners them with a company called THE9.

BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT® SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH THE9 FOR OPERATION OF WORLD OF WARCRAFT®: THE BURNING CRUSADE™ IN MAINLAND CHINA

IRVINE, Calif. - February 1, 2007 - Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that it has signed an agreement with The9 for the operation of World of Warcraft®: The Burning Crusade™ in mainland China. The9 currently operates Blizzard Entertainment®'s critically acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game, World of Warcraft, in China, where the game is played by more than 3.5 million subscribers. Localization of The Burning Crusade, Blizzard's first World of Warcraft expansion, into simplified Chinese is underway, and further details regarding the release of the expansion in China will be announced in the months ahead.

The new agreement between Blizzard and The9 includes provisions for hardware upgrades to the existing World of Warcraft infrastructure to enable the best gaming experience possible for players in China. Working closely with Blizzard's global teams, The9 will continue providing local community management, technical support, and 24/7 in-game customer service. The9 also manages distribution of game cards and the physical hosting of World of Warcraft and The Burning Crusade on local servers.

"We're fully committed to ensuring that the ongoing operation of World of Warcraft in mainland China will provide an excellent experience for players there for many years to come," said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We look forward to extending that commitment with this expansion as well as with future Blizzard releases."

Launched in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand in mid January, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade smashed the day-one sales record for PC games, selling nearly 2.4 million copies within its first 24 hours of availability.* World of Warcraft is played by more than 8 million subscribers worldwide.