Claim: World of Warcraft is an online role-playing game.

World of Warcraft -LRB- WoW -RRB- is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game -LRB- MMORPG -RRB- released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment . It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe , which was first introduced by Warcraft : Orcs & Humans in 1994 . World of Warcraft takes place within the Warcraft world of Azeroth , approximately four years after the events at the conclusion of Blizzard 's previous Warcraft release , Warcraft III : The Frozen Throne . Blizzard Entertainment announced World of Warcraft on September 2 , 2001 . The game was released on November 23 , 2004 , on the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise .   The first expansion set of the game , The Burning Crusade , was released on January 16 , 2007 . The second expansion set , Wrath of the Lich King , was released on November 13 , 2008 . The third expansion set , Cataclysm , was released on December 7 , 2010 . The fourth expansion set , Mists of Pandaria , was released on September 25 , 2012 . The fifth expansion set , Warlords of Draenor , was released on November 13 , 2014 . The sixth expansion set , Legion , was released on August 30 , 2016 .   With a peak of 12 million subscriptions in October 2010 and Blizzard 's final report of 5.5 million subscriptions in October 2015 , World of Warcraft remains the world 's most-subscribed MMORPG , and holds the Guinness World Record for the most popular MMORPG by subscribers . In January 2014 , Blizzard announced that more than 100 million accounts had been created over the game 's lifetime .