World of Warcraft has made another step in it’s conquest to take over Earth.  It was announced today that the Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Pack has expanded the WoW subscription base to 11.5 million globally.  To help people understand how large that number really is, let’s write it out:  Eleven million five hundred-thousand users. Or: 11,500,000.  Simply put, that’s quite an accomplishment, and a lot of revenue.  Well done, Blizzard.

Blizzard has also done a little song and dance to the fact that WotLK sold 2.8 million copies in 24 hours taking the title of the fastest selling PC game ever.  Not stopping there, WotLK continued to sell more than 4 million copies in it’s first month on the shelves, which took the record for most PC game sales in a month from it’s predecessor The Burning Crusade.  Trumping yourselves, kudos to you Blizzard.

It is nice to see some firms giving good news around the holidays.  The press release even goes so far to say that Blizzard is hiring.  Check it out at www.blizzard.com/jobs, there are plenty of jobs available, another bit of uplifting news in time for the holidays.

Full Press Release beyond the Jump

IRVINE, Calif., Dec 23, 2008: Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft^®, its award-winning subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game, is now played by more than 11.5 million subscribers worldwide. This new high was reached following the November 13 release of the game’s second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King^TM.

Within its first 24 hours of availability, Wrath of the Lich King sold more than 2.8 million copies, making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time. In addition to winning a number of editor’s choice awards from major gaming publications, the expansion has now gone on to sell more than 4 million copies in its first month, setting a new record for monthly PC-game sales. Both sales records were previously held by World of Warcraft’s first expansion, The Burning Crusade^®.*

“We’re pleased to welcome the new and returning players who have helped World of Warcraft reach these new milestones, and we appreciate the enthusiasm and support that the game’s global community has continued to show,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment^®. “We look forward to providing all of them with an excellent entertainment experience for a long time to come.”

“Not only is Wrath of the Lich King still doing well, the base World of Warcraft game and the World of Warcraft Battle Chest^® are performing better than last year,” said Bob McKenzie, senior vice president of merchandising at GameStop. “That type of traction is very impressive for a game that is going into its fifth holiday season and speaks to the enthusiastic player base Blizzard Entertainment products have.”

To keep pace with the continued growth of World of Warcraft as well as development on other Blizzard Entertainment games, the company is currently hiring for numerous open positions. More information on available career opportunities can be found at www.blizzard.com/jobs. More information about the latest World of Warcraft expansion is available at the official Wrath of the Lich King website: www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath.

World of Warcraft’s Subscriber Definition

World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees’ territories are defined along the same rules.