World of Warcraft is what’s known as a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that allows thousands of players to adventure across the game world together at the same time.
To date it’s one of the most popular PC games of all time and at its peak had more than 12 million paying monthly subscribers.
Players can join a PvE (player versus environment server), or a PvP (player versus player) or RP (role-playing) server.
Its esports tournaments usually focus on 3v3 arena battles, but there are other competitive modes and competitions including raids, where teams compete around the world to be the first to defeat new AI-controlled bosses introduced into the game, and the Mythic Dungeon Invitational, where they must be the fastest to finish a dungeon as a group of five.
Game Specifications
Platforms: PC
Typical game length: 10mins (arena), 20-60mins (dungeon), varies (raiding/bosses)
Players: 3v3 (arena), five players (dungeon), 20 players (mythic raid)
Genre: RPG
Price: £9.99 (plus £9.99 per month, and around £34.99 for the latest expansion pack), or free up to level 20
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Notable tournaments: WoW Arena World Championship, Mythic Dungeon Invitational
Website: https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/
Popularity: 5.5m as of Q3 2015 (though Blizzard says it has risen since then but won’t quote specific numbers)
Twitch: 63,017 peak viewers in December 2018 as of Twitchmetrics
Launched: 2004
Pegi age rating: 12
Other Pegi info: Realistic looking violence towards non human looking characters, non-realistic looking violence towards human characters, mild bad language, violence causing minor injury only, use of offensive language
