Refuting any previous speculations, Blizzard announced today that its massively multiplayer online role-playing game World Of Warcraft will be in stores in North America on November 23, 2004.

The title will launch simultaneously in Australia and New Zealand, and is also planned for release in Korea, Europe, and other countries throughout Asia shortly thereafter.
"World Of Warcraft has been our largest undertaking to date," said Mike Morhaime, president and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment. "When we set out to create a massively multiplayer online game, our goal was to expand the scope of the Warcraft universe by offering an incredibly dynamic game experience. We're extremely proud of the game we've created, and we believe players will be very pleased when they see what we have in store for them."
World Of Warcraft will retail in the U.S. for $49.99, and include a free one-month subscription to the game. The special collector's edition of World Of Warcraft will also be available at release for $79.99 and include the World Of Warcraft game on both CD-ROM and DVD, a free one-month subscription, a World Of Warcraft behind-the-scenes DVD, an exclusive in-game pet, a cloth map of the game world, a soundtrack CD, an "Art of the World Of Warcraft" coffee-table book, and a commemorative game manual signed by the development team.

After the free trial subscription ends, you will be able to continue playing World Of Warcraft through one of three different subscription plans: month-to-month for $14.99/month, three months at $13.99/month, and the six-month plan costs $12.99/month.  .