WORLD OF WARCRAFT® REACHES 1.5 MILLION PAYING CUSTOMERS IN CHINA

IRVINE, Calif. - July 20, 2005 - Blizzard Entertainment®, Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft®, its subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), has surpassed 1.5 million paying customers in China - just a month following the game's commercial launch on June 7, 2005. The critically acclaimed World of Warcraft has now achieved another significant milestone as the largest MMORPG in the world, with more than 3.5 million global customers.

"World of Warcraft's success in China has quickly exceeded our expectations, and seeing Chinese gamers respond so enthusiastically to the game has been extremely gratifying," said Mike Morhaime, president and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We thank the players for embracing World of Warcraft, our partner The9 for helping o make all of this possible, and the Chinese authorities for their support of Blizzard Entertainment."

Blizzard's partner, well-respected MMO operator The9, is leading the operation and management of World of Warcraft in China while upholding its commitment to provide exceptional service as the game's customer base has experienced extraordinary growth. The9's dedicated team in China, composed entirely of Chinese management and staff, has provided localization of game content, synchronization of content updates, and delivery of player feedback to the developers. The9's local team offers 24-hour customer service, with direct game master (GM) support and local call-center representatives dedicated to helping players with questions regarding gameplay and technical issues.

"Chinese gamers across the country have embraced World of Warcraft," said Michael Fong, Blizzard Entertainment managing director, Greater China, "and we are committed to responding with continual updates to the game, including new dungeons for players to explore, additional player-vs.-player content, ongoing live events, and much more. Blizzard and The9 also remain dedicated to delivering unparalleled service to Chinese gamers with fully localized content and local, around-the-clock customer support."

The 1.5 million paying Chinese customers now join the two million players in North America, Europe, and Korea who are already paying to play World of Warcraft. With a worldwide customer population of more than 3.5 million, World of Warcraft is now by far the largest MMORPG in the world. Blizzard plans to continue expanding World of Warcraft with upcoming launches in Taiwan and other parts of Asia.

For more information on World of Warcraft in China, including pricing and gameplay features, please visit the official Chinese website at www.wowchina.com.

World of Warcraft's Customer Base Definition

World of Warcraft customers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or a prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the installation box bundled with one free month access. Internet Game Room players having accessed the game over the last seven days are also counted as customers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or canceled subscriptions, and expired pre-paid cards. Customers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules.

Best known for their series Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo®, Blizzard Entertainment (www.blizzard.com, a division of Vivendi Universal Games) is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating many of the industry's most critically acclaimed games. The company's free Internet gaming service Battle.net® provides a forum in which owners of Blizzard's games can play in a multiplayer mode remotely across the Internet and against other gamers from around the world.

The bottom line, then, is that between the fundamental changes wrought by the combat upgrade and the new material in this expansion, Star Wars Galaxies is finally a decent, fun MMO. It may not matter, however, since there's little here to attract new players to the game, and there are far too many newer, shinier MMOs out there attracting attention. Still, despite problems to be worked out like hangovers from the game's original design and two years of the devs breaking things, players who have left Galaxies might want to check back in. Things are finally looking up for the big-name MMO that reached for the stars but never seemed to get off the ground.