"The success of World of Warcraft has proven our belief in Europe as a strong online gaming market", said Mike Morhaime, president of Blizzard Entertainment. "We are delighted to now be in a position to provide more boxes to retail and to welcome more players into the game."

As part of a new initiative, players will find a 10 day Guest Pass in each of these 250,000 boxes, which will allow them to invite a friend to play World of Warcraft with them on a 10 day free trial. At the end of the trial period, the guest will be able to continue playing with his existing character by purchasing a retail copy of the game.

World of Warcraft is available for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP and Macintosh at a suggested retail price of £29.99, and includes a one-month subscription to the game. After the initial one-month subscription ends, players will be able to continue playing under one of three different subscription plans. The basic month-to-month subscription plan costs £8.99 per month while the three-month plan costs £8.39 per month and the six-month plan costs £7.69 per month. Subscription fees can be paid with all major credit cards, many local credit cards, direct debit (such as ELV in Germany) and pre-paid game cards which carry a SRP of £18.49 for 60 days of gaming time.