Blizzard has opened up new EU realms for their smash hit World of Warcraft today. This is the first stage in providing new and improved servers for the English, French and German community. New boxed copies of the game are now expected to ship to retailers and more realms are expected to launch in the near future.

The opening of the new World of Warcraft site follows ongoing upgrades in hardware and software of the existing game infrastructure to accommodate the growing European player base. "We are delighted to provide these new game realms for European players," says Mike Morhaime, president and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment®. "The new site will allow us to provide a smoother, more satisfying game experience and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the players in Europe for their continued support and patience whilst we brought this new site to fruition." Got a news tip? Send it to the team