The opening of the new World of Warcraft site follows ongoing upgrades in hardware and software of the existing game infrastructure to accommodate the growing European player base. "We are delighted to provide these new game realms for European players," says Mike Morhaime, president and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment®. "The new site will allow us to provide a smoother, more satisfying game experience and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the players in Europe for their continued support and patience whilst we brought this new site to fruition."

The opening of the new realms will also facilitate the shipment of new boxed copies of World of Warcraft to retail stores. Shipments were halted in the past weeks to avoid increasing the load on the existing realms. In addition, as part of its ongoing plans to improve and expand the game infrastructure in Europe, Blizzard Entertainment will announce the opening of a further new site in the near future.

In Europe more than one million people are playing World of Warcraft. The game is operated by a dedicated local team of over 450 Blizzard employees representing 22 different nationalities.