Spanish Version of World of Warcraft in Development

Blizzard Entertainment has issued a press release announcing that World of Warcraft has surpassed six million subscribers and that a fully localized Spanish version of the game is in development.
SPANISH VERSION OF WORLD OF WARCRAFT® IN DEVELOPMENT

Customer base reaches 6 million players worldwide as Blizzard Entertainment® prepares its award-winning MMORPG for continued growth in Europe

PARIS, France - 28 February, 2006 - Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced plans to release a fully localised Spanish version of World of Warcraft®, its popular subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game. The Spanish version will represent the fourth language available to players in Europe, making the game accessible to an even wider audience here. World of Warcraft's European customer base is currently at more than 1 million players, with the worldwide total now at more than 6 million players.

The Spanish version of the game will be released and hosted in Europe and supported by a dedicated Spanish-speaking team based at the Blizzard Europe offices. This will include 24/7 in-game support, offline customer support, a dedicated community team and an official World of Warcraft website in Spanish. As with the existing German and French versions, the game will be localised by the Blizzard in-house localisation team.

"We look forward to offering Spanish-speaking players in Europe a version of World of Warcraft tailored specifically for them," said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment®. "The enthusiasm for the game here has been overwhelming, and we're pleased that this new localised version will make World of Warcraft accessible to an even wider audience."

World of Warcraft has steadily grown in popularity around the world since its initial launch in North America, Australia and New Zealand in November 2004. The game's content and player population continued to expand in 2005, with subsequent launches in Korea, Europe, China, Singapore and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. In Europe, World of Warcraft is operated by a dedicated local team of more than 450 Blizzard employees representing 22 different nationalities.

For more information on World of Warcraft, please visit the game's official website at www.wow-europe.com.

World of Warcraft's Customer Definition

World of Warcraft customers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or purchased a prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the installation box bundled with one free month access. Internet Game Room players that have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as customers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired pre-paid cards. Customers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules.

About Blizzard Entertainment®, Inc.

Best known for blockbuster hits including the Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® series, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Vivendi Universal Games, is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating many of the industry's most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard's track record includes nine #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company's free Internet gaming service, Battle.net®, reigns as the largest in the world, with millions of active users.