World of Warcraft: Forever's launch seems to have been a big hit for Blizzard Entertainment. The third arm of the fantasy MMO brought back a record number of lapsed players and made series' history at launch, according to the company.
World of Warcraft: Forever released properly on November 4th, after an equally impressive beta period that saw swarms of Horde and Alliance jump back into Azeroth. Blizzard is now celebrating the historic launch.
"Congratulations everyone, you made history," the company writes on social media. "WoW: Forever has achieved the biggest launch in WoW history by peak concurrent players" and "the highest number of returning players in WoW history."
WoW: Forever is a new permanent branch that's promising to sit alongside the modern version of the game and WoW: Classic. Most notably, it's based on Azeroth as it was in 2004, this time with new content and storylines and races and opportunities - making it an understandable place to jump back in for any lapsed players who are still nostalgic for WoW's golden years.
On top of that, WoW: Forever also had the smoothest launch in the franchise's history - or perhaps even Blizzard's entire modern history - which probably didn't hurt its numbers, either, eh?
"This is all because of you, the players," Blizzard adds. "From all of us, THANK YOU!"
Executive producer Holly Longdale celebrated the news on social media, while also sharing that Forever attracted "the most new players for a WoW launch in 15 years." Another feather in Blizzard's cap. "Welcome all! We're so happy you're here experiencing Azeroth for the first time alongside those of us playing it for the first time...AGAIN."
