Next World of Warcraft Expansion delayed

Blizzard pushes back The Burning Crusade to 2007

October 25, 2006

Blizzard has announced that the next expansion to its World of Warcraft online RPG is being delayed until January 2007, putting it past the holiday release.

Originally planned for a November release, The Burning Crusade adds new player abilities, two new playable races, new areas on the "Outland" continent and new quests. The expansion will also raise the player level cap to 70.

Blizzard has extended the beta test of the expansion in order to "further refine the new content" and ensure a quality release. "We feel confident that the extra time spent polishing the game will result in the high-quality experience that our players expect and deserve," commented Blizzard president Mike Morhaime.

Blizzard has not given a specific release date for the expansion, but says that information will be available shortly.

Nearly seven million players are currently online in World of Warcraft. The news of the expansion's delay will probably come as a disappointment, but it is expected that most continuing subscribers will purchase the expansion when it is available.