WoW: Forever Sets Franchise Record With Launch

World of Warcraft: Forever recorded the biggest launch in the franchise’s history, according to Blizzard. The game surpassed every previous World of Warcraft launch, including WoW Classic’s 2019 debut.

Blizzard has not released an exact concurrent player count. Executive producer Holly Longdale reported that Forever brought in more new players than any World of Warcraft launch in 15 years.

Forever launched on Nov. 4 as a permanent version of World of Warcraft that operates alongside the modern game and WoW Classic. It recreates Azeroth as it appeared in 2004 and adds new storylines, quests, races and dungeons.

The game retains the slower pace and progression associated with the original massively multiplayer online game. Blizzard reported that the launch used 3,924 virtual machines, 251,136 gigabytes of memory and 70,480 CPU cores.

“Congratulations, everyone, you made history!” Blizzard wrote in a social media post thanking players. The company has not disclosed how many players remain active after the launch.

World of Warcraft launched more than two decades ago and has since received multiple versions and content updates. WoW Classic debuted in 2019 as a recreation of the original game. Forever is a separate permanent version with additional content based on the 2004 setting.

Reviewed and fact-checked by Vlad Kipran on November 9.