Burning Crusade to Go On Sale January 16

Blizzard Entertainment has announced "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade" expansion for its hugely popular online game will go on sale January 16, 2007.

Blizzard Entertainment has announced that World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade will arrive in North American stores on January 16, 2007—missing the lucrative end-of-year holiday buying rush but still sooner than fans feared when the company announced a delay last month. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade will be the largest revision to the company’s hugely popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), World of Warcraft. The expansion will be rated T for “Teen” by the ESRC, and carry a suggested retail price of $39.99—a special collector’s edition will sell for $69.99. (Either one requires the base World of Warcraft game, currently retailing for $19.99.)

“While World of Warcraft has continued to grow rapidly along with its player population, The Burning Crusade will represent our single largest addition of new game content and new features to date,” said Mike Morhaime, Blizzard’s president and co-founder. “With this expansion, we’re looking forward to offering the same level of quality that players have experienced in World of Warcraft so far, and we’ll continue balancing and play-testing up until launch to ensure that The Burning Crusade achieves that goal.”

The Burning Crusade will offer two new playable races—the Blood Elves and the Draenei—along with new talents and abilities, a new jewelcrafting profession, new weapons, and armor, flying mounts, and (cue trumpets) the ability to advance characters to level 70. The expansion will also enable players to journey through the Dark Portal and into the Outland, former homeland of the Orcs.

Blizzard also announced that World of Warcraft now has some 7.5 million players worldwide.