Get swept away in the Plunderstorm—a fun, new, limited-time, pirate-themed event of prodigious proportions lasting the next several weeks. Scour the map and try to be the last pirate standing while dashing across the Arathi Highlands to find abilities, upgrades, and loot to plunder just to survive! Plunge into a challenging battle that earns excellent rewards for World of Warcraft Modern and Classic progression realms. All you have to do is survive…and plunder. Can't seem to stay in the realm of the living? No problem. Plunderers still gain progression that helps unlock new rewards.

Set Sail for the Plunderstorm
Each match is 10-15 minutes long and has 60 players per match, with the winner being the last one standing. Level up and acquire new abilities and spells by killing creatures and enemies, looting chests, and avoiding the encroaching storm.

As part of our effort to make Battle.net more welcoming to more players, we routinely review which currencies we support and what new ones we should add. This can make submitting payments less difficult and may help reduce or eliminate fees you pay to your card issuer for foreign currency transactions. Subscriptions for Argentinian players will be canceled and not automatically renewed to avoid enrolling players into subscriptions that may see a price increase in Argentina after this currency update.

The new currencies we're rolling out include: United Arab Emirates dirham (AED), Colombian peso (COP), Costa Rican colon (CRC), Indonesian rupiah (IDR), Israeli new shekel (ILS), Malaysian ringgit (MYR), Peruvian sol (PEN), Qatari riyal (QAR), Serbian dinar (RSD), Saudi riyal (SAR), Singapore dollar (SGD), Thai baht (THB), and Uruguayan peso (UYU). We've put together a brief FAQ to provide you with more information on the coming changes.

Today at BlizzCon 2023, Blizzard Entertainment announced The Worldsoul Saga, featuring three upcoming expansions for the critically acclaimed massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft. Players will begin their adventure deep beneath the surface in the World of Warcraft: The War Within expansion, slated for release in 2024. World of Warcraft: Midnight and World of Warcraft: The Last Titan will round out a three-part saga that calls players home to save Azeroth.

"Beginning with The War Within, The Worldsoul Saga is grown from the seeds of what captured the hearts of players around the world when they first set foot in Azeroth," said World of Warcraft executive producer Holly Longdale. "For veteran players, the last 20 years have led to this, and for those who have never set foot in Azeroth, this is a whole new adventure."

BlizzCon 2023 is almost here! For those tuning in from home, we'll be streaming all BlizzCon Arena content for free. Whether you plan to join in person or virtually, we wanted to share a first look at all the events in store. Visit Blizzard's YouTube channels or Twitch on November 3-4 to catch all the panels and programming below. BlizzCon is for the community, so feel free to share it with yours by co-streaming.

BlizzCon Collection - On Sale Now
Virtual attendees can also pick up the BlizzCon Collection, a new set of digital goodies and in-game items, in the Battle.net Shop now. These bundles are a must-have for any player journeying through World of Warcraft, Diablo IV, Overwatch 2, Hearthstone, and Warcraft Rumble. Whether you're a seasoned hero or just starting your adventure, don't miss out. Visit the Battle.net Shop to purchase.

Kingston Technology Europe Co LLP, an affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, announces its partnership with leading esports organisation Method. This year long partnership will see Kingston Technology support Method with the latest hardware and technology solutions to help them excel in their competitive gaming endeavors.

UK Based Method is a global top guild in World of Warcraft, as well as a world class MMO and RPG gaming organisation. The team has achieved numerous accolades, including winning the Race to World First an impressive twelve times, and have a large following in the RPG gaming community. With this partnership, Kingston Technology will work closely with Method to provide them with top-of-the-line hardware and technical support to help them achieve even greater success in the upcoming year.

According to a recent news article released by Chinese news group Sina Technology, NetEase has filed a lawsuit against its former publishing partner Blizzard Entertainment, to the tune of (around) $43.5 Million. The Chinese Internet technology company is seeking compensation, in the form of a very large refund, following Blizzard's total exit from the nation's online gaming sector - its server infrastructure in China was shut down in January of this year. The closing of Blizzard-related services represented a very abrupt end to a 14-year long relationship between the two online gaming specialists - press coverage at the time presented a tense situation involving many major disagreements - the partnership was broken because of unfavorable terms on Blizzard's part.

NetEase posits that it had to compensate its customer base through refunds from its own reserves, after the sudden shutdown of Blizzard's hugely popular MMO - World of Warcraft, and other online multiplayer game series including Overwatch, Hearthstone, Diablo and Starcraft. A significant chunk of the $43.5 million settlement is said to cover the company's cost in refunding part of its customer base - somewhere in the range of 1.12 million players - for discontinued games and services. NetEase is also reported to be seeking damages for broken license agreements, unsold merchandise inventory and the loss of access to future Blizzard intellectual properties.

Update Apr 25th: According to an article from PC Gamer, published today, NetEase is not taking Blizzard to court. It turns out that a serial litigator, Yang Jun, has included NetEase as an appellant in his filed legal documents - under another company name, The9, an apparently defunct former licensing partner. PC Gamer has been informed that Yang Jun has sued NetEase in the past, and that his latest batch of legal documents have been amended to reflect that he is the lone party in demanding a financial settlement from Blizzard.

Blizzard is about to shut down its services in China today, as it was unable to reach a favorable partnership renewal with NetEase, the Chinese company handling Blizzard's business in the Chinese market, including local regulatory compliance, geographic localization of servers, and accepting payments. NetEase CEO William Ding said the partnership renewal negotiations fell apart due to "material differences on key terms." This means gamers in China no longer have a means to play the genre-defining MMORPG "World of Warcraft," "Starcraft," and other popular titles. A lot has changed in China's domestic gaming industry over the past two decades, and there are dozens of popular game studios with their titles in the MMORPG genre.

The Federal Trade Commission is seeking to block technology giant Microsoft Corp. from acquiring leading video game developer Activision Blizzard, Inc. and its blockbuster gaming franchises such as Call of Duty, alleging that the $69 billion deal, Microsoft's largest ever and the largest ever in the video gaming industry, would enable Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content and cloud-gaming business.

In a complaint issued today, the FTC pointed to Microsoft's record of acquiring and using valuable gaming content to suppress competition from rival consoles, including its acquisition of ZeniMax, parent company of Bethesda Softworks (a well-known game developer). Microsoft decided to make several of Bethesda's titles including Starfield and Redfall Microsoft exclusives despite assurances it had given to European antitrust authorities that it had no incentive to withhold games from rival consoles.

World of Warcraft : Dragonflight, the ninth expansion to Blizzard Entertainment's critically acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game, is now live! Heroes of the Horde and Alliance are called back to Azeroth to explore the mystical Dragon Isles and its ancient secrets, where the dragon aspects have returned to reclaim their kingdom and ancestral home.

"Dragonflight goes to the heart of what players have always loved about World of Warcraft—exploration, customization, and the feeling of wonder as the world and its stories unfold," said Mike Ybarra, president of Blizzard Entertainment. "The updates to core systems, such as the new talent trees, build on the legacy of WoW for players of all types, allowing old friends and new to enjoy everything Azeroth has to offer for years to come."

NVIDIA today released the latest GeForce Game Ready software. Version 526.98 WHQL adds official support for the GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card launched earlier this week. It also adds optimization for "Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales," "Warhammer 40,0000: Darktide," the latest patch update for "WRC Generations," and "World of Warcraft: Dragonflight." It adds DLSS 3 support for the latest "Spider-Man" title, as well as DLAA support for "Monster Hunter Rise." The drivers also introduce official support for DirectStorage 1.1 API, as well as RTX-IO support for Vulkan. This way, even Vulkan API-based games can enjoy GPU-accelerated game asset decompression, speeding up game loading times.

DLSS 3 is now made to get along with VSYNC On G-SYNC and G-SYNC Compatible Monitors & TVs. The new HDR10+ Gaming standard is now implemented. Among the issues fixed with this driver release are a game crash with "Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection," on GTX 10-series GPUs, application crashes with Daz Studio and Maxon Cinema 4D; and minor quirks with Fujitsu Siemens SL23T-1, and the G-SYNC logo not displaying with LG OLED TVs that support it. Grab this feature-packed update from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 526.98 WHQL

As the world's leading e-sports equipment brand, GTPLAYER announced its official partnership with Blizzard Entertainment to launch the GTPLAYER Lich King co-branded gaming chair, which is also GTPLAYER's largest collaborative series to date, and will be released globally on October 24. "World of Warcraft" is definitely high on the list of the masterpieces enjoying worldwide popularity, and among the "World of Warcraft" series, the Lich King is one of the most popular, with well-rounded and successful characters and countless fans who have found love and hate in him.

This September is destined to be extraordinary for the existing players of "World of Warcraft". Blizzard officially announced that the "Wrath of the Lich King" content will be launched in the World of Warcraft Classic on September 26. The Lich King once again reigns in the world, which is enough to excite millions of fans.

The ancestral home of dragonkind is stirring as Blizzard Entertainment today announced Dragonflight, the ninth expansion for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft, will be released worldwide on November 28 at 3:00 p.m.

"Dragonflight was crafted with our incredible community in mind and with the desire to return to what we all love most dearly: the splendor of Azeroth and its characters, with our players cast as heroes," said World of Warcraft executive producer Holly Longdale. "We invite everyone into this new adventure where we will bask in the landscape of dragons, become a part of their ancient legacy, and watch the secrets of this land unfold together."

The icy winds of Northrend are wailing once more, heralding news that Blizzard Entertainment's Wrath of the Lich King Classic is now live. All players with an active subscription automatically receive access to the re-creation of WoW 's acclaimed second expansion at no additional cost and can log in to begin their adventures into the frozen wilds of Azeroth's northern continent today. The legendary story can be experienced on all realms previously dedicated to World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic content.

Players will embark on a treacherous adventure through lush locales, battling foes unlike those found anywhere else in Azeroth, and will fulfil numerous quests before confronting the iconic Lich King in Icecrown Citadel and putting an end to his heartless destruction. This journey includes the rise of the fearsome Death Knight hero class, available to all players (even new ones!) and starting at level 55, the original iteration of the World of Warcraft achievement system to recognize various accomplishments in the game, and the Inscription profession, which enables players to scribe ability-enhancing glyphs that alter the appearance and modify the properties of spells and abilities.

Blizzard Entertainment announced today that Dragonflight, the next expansion to the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft, is now available for pre-purchase and is set to launch later this year. In Dragonflight, players will embark to the awakening Dragon Isles, the origin place of dragonkind, where the fabled dragon aspects have returned to claim their rightful home.

The Dragon Isles feature four lush new zones for players to adventure through on their journey to the new level cap of 70: the vibrant Waking Shores, the verdant Ohn'ahran Plains, the sprawling Azure Span, and the resplendent Thaldraszus. Dragonriding, a new method of aerial movement, empowers players to soar through the skies of each new area in style atop customizable Dragon Isles Drakes. The isles are home to the all-new playable Dracthyr allied race, who mix the magics of the dragonflights with ranged damage and healer specializations as a solely dedicated Evoker hero class that start off at level 58.

From his grim citadel deep in the frozen continent of Northrend, the dreaded Lich King Arthas Menethil sets in motion his conquest of Azeroth, ushering in one of the most unforgettable sagas in Warcraft history. Blizzard Entertainment today announced that World of Warcraft : Wrath of the Lich King Classic is coming later this year, inviting players to experience anew an adventure that indelibly shaped the ongoing story of Warcraft. When it launches in 2022, this finely tuned re-release of the smash-hit 2008 expansion will be available at no additional cost to all players with an active World of Warcraft subscription.

"We're thrilled to revisit one of the most beloved eras in Warcraft history with Wrath of the Lich King Classic," said Mike Ybarra, President of Blizzard Entertainment. "The original release of this expansion brought many improvements to the game, along with a timeless villain and an epic story. We're taking care to preserve the authentic Classic experience for those looking to relive their glory days in Northrend—and deliver a worthy and accessible re-creation for those embarking on this vast adventure for the first time."

"You are not prepared!" Fourteen years ago, Illidan Stormrage issued that thunderous warning to those who would dare confront him in the shattered realm of Outland. Starting June 1, heroes of Azeroth new and old will have the opportunity to gather their courage and rally their allies to face the Betrayer once again with the worldwide launch of World of Warcraft : Burning Crusade Classic.

Burning Crusade Classic, Blizzard Entertainment's authentic recreation of the acclaimed first World of Warcraft expansion, sends players back through the Dark Portal to the shattered realm of Outland—a distant, fel-scarred planet where the forces of the demonic Burning Legion prepare to mount an assault against all life on Azeroth. Featuring a strange and treacherous new world to discover; two new playable races, the blood elves and draenei; and the all-new ability to soar and explore upon flying mounts in Outland, Burning Crusade Classic will give WoW veterans and newcomers alike a chance to experience a timeless era of Warcraft adventure.

Beyond the Dark Portal in the shattered realm of Outland, the armies of the demonic Burning Legion prepare for an invasion that threatens the entire world of Azeroth. Later this year, World of Warcraft players will return to the fel-scarred ruin of Hellfire Peninsula to stop the incursion at its source; rediscover what lurks below the fungal forests of Zangarmarsh; and face down Illidan the Betrayer once again in Burning Crusade Classic, Blizzard Entertainment's authentic recreation of the acclaimed first World of Warcraft expansion.

"The World of Warcraft community made it clear that they wanted WoW Classic, and now they're eager to continue their journey into The Burning Crusade," said J. Allen Brack, president of Blizzard Entertainment. "Since the launch of WoW Classic and as we rolled out content updates, we've learned a lot about what players want from an experience like this in 2021. We're building on that to ensure players' new adventures in Outland are as epic as ever, whether they're taking a return trip through the Dark Portal or joining us for the very first time."

Starting November 23, World of Warcraft players around the globe began their journey into the unknown reaches of Azeroth's afterlife in Shadowlands, the game's highly anticipated eighth expansion. Today, Blizzard Entertainment announced that as of the first full day of Shadowlands' launch, more than 3.7 million units had sold through globally, making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time industry-wide.

The previously announced industry record-holder, Blizzard's own Diablo III, sold through more than 3.5 million copies as of its first day of release. Today's announcement confirms that Shadowlands has surpassed that milestone as well as any other reported sell-through achievement for the same time frame among all PC games historically.

AMD late Monday released the latest version of Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition. Version 20.11.3 beta adds support for Vulkan Ray Tracing Extensions. Khronos had recently finalized the Vulkan RT specification. Additionally, the drivers add optimization for Immortals: Fenyx Rising. The drivers also address a fairly long list of issues. For starters, it addresses lower performance observed for the RX 6800 series GPUs on Watch Dogs Legion and DiRT 5; and low performance noticed for the RX 5000 and older GPUs on Godfall. Some character models facing display corruption in Crysis Remastered on RX 6800 series has been fixed. Intermittent game crashes with Troy: A Total War Saga, and WoW Shadowlands have been fixed.

A bug that caused WoW Shadowlands to fail to launch on Windows 7 machines with DirectX 12 renderer selected, has been fixed. Some intermittent game crashes seen in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War with DXR enabled on RX 6800 series, have been fixed. Doom Eternal with HDR enabled disabling HDR on Windows 10, has been fixed. Certain issues found with Adobe Illustrator and AIDA 64 have been fixed. Some display corruption issues with RDR2 using RX 6800 series at 1080p, has been fixed. Grab the driver from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 20.11.3 beta

In the Shadowlands, the world beyond the mortal realm, Azeroth's souls discover new purpose: to ascend, to atone, to be reborn, to wage everlasting war or suffer an eternity of torment. For the millions of World of Warcraft players around the world, the journey to seize their own destiny in the afterlife begins today with the launch of Shadowlands, the eighth expansion for Blizzard Entertainment's acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game.

In World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, the heroes of the Horde and the Alliance will come face-to-face with the mysteries of death as they journey through the next world's wondrous realms. Along the way, they'll forge a fate-changing pact with one of the Shadowlands' four ruling Covenants, drawing upon their otherworldly power to confront the forces of the Jailer, the malevolent entity who holds dominion over the hopeless depths of the Maw. Players' resolve will be tested as they seek to reclaim lost souls from the Jailer's watchful eye and venture into the labyrinthine corridors of Torghast, Tower of the Damned, where long-imprisoned horrors—and legendary rewards—await.

AMD released the latest version of the Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition drivers. Version 20.10.1 beta comes with optimization for "DOOM Eternal: The Ancient Gods, Part One;" "Watch_Dogs: Legion," "DiRT 5 early access," and "World of Warcraft : Shadowlands Pre-Patch." Among the bugs fixed with this release are audio instability issues for AV receivers pulling digital audio from HDMI ports on Radeon RX 5000 series graphics cards; Windows Desktop experiencing flickering in multi-display setups with one of the displays running a Vulkan API game full-screen; uploading or streaming to YouTube using Radeon Software not working correctly; "Genshin Impact" not displaying correctly in the gaming tab of Radeon Software; some legacy Windows screensavers causing a crash on RX 5000 series graphics cards; and graphics corruption noticed on high refresh-rate multi-display setups. Grab the drivers from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 20.10.1 betaThe change-log follows.

Blue, a leading innovator in audio technology and design, today announced the new Yeti X World of Warcraft Edition professional USB microphone. Developed in collaboration with Blizzard Entertainment, Yeti X World of Warcraft Edition allows players to alter their voices to sound like denizens of Azeroth using the all-new voice modulation effect in Blue VO!CE. Gamers can celebrate victories, communicate with their raid group and entertain stream audiences using hundreds of HD audio samples from Blizzard's upcoming World of Warcraft: Shadowlands expansion and the Warcraft universe. Featuring a custom Warcraft design, Yeti X World of Warcraft Edition enables players to create a dynamic audio broadcast that elevates streams and gameplay to new levels.

"This is an exciting collaboration with Blizzard that brings the World of Warcraft universe to life with Yeti X," said Doug Sharp, Sr. Product Manager of Gaming at Blue Microphones. "Players not only get broadcast-quality audio, but can transform their voice to bring their personal creativity to their gameplay or stream. We're excited to see how gamers and streamers will use the new voice modulation effect and the Blizzard HD sample library to entertain audiences and create epic streams."

PC game minimum system requirements have until now prescribed minimum storage space. Blizzard's upcoming "World of Warcraft: Shadowlands" changes this, with the game specifically calling for at least 100 GB of SSD storage. Windows already has a way of telling an HDD from an SSD, and game developers can in theory enforce the requirement. With "Shadowlands," though, there doesn't appear to be any enforcement, with numerous VIPs on the Blizzard forums reporting that the game should launch from HDDs, albeit game load times could hurt. With next-generation game consoles implementing SSD for their higher transfer rates - but more importantly - for their significantly lower access times compared to HDDs, SSD as a system requirement on the PC platform was bound to happen. The gaming industry is designing its next-generation gaming experiencing around the low access times of SSD, and an HDD would fall short. The game's other system requirements are listed below.

Beyond Azeroth's shattered sky, a realm of infinite afterlives awaits: the Shadowlands, where mortal souls go to reckon with their pasts, discover new purpose... or suffer an eternity of torment. On October 27, the heroes of the Horde and the Alliance will forge their own fate in the next world as World of Warcraft : Shadowlands, the eighth expansion for Blizzard Entertainment's acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game, launches around the globe.

Upon entering the Shadowlands, Azeroth's champions will encounter an otherworld in disarray. Virtuous souls are being wrongfully cast into the eternal darkness of the Maw, while the Covenants—powerful factions who hold dominion over the afterlife's disparate realms—face ruin and strife as the flow of the Shadowlands' essential anima mysteriously dwindles. As an ancient, long-bound evil gathers the strength to break its chains, players must carve their path through the uncharted reaches of the beyond, forge a pact with the Covenant that most aligns with their own principles and purpose—and ultimately restore balance to the hereafter.

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) today announced record second-quarter 2020 results. "Our mission to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment has never been more meaningful," said Bobby Kotick, Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard. "Our 400 million players continue to experience fun, joy and accomplishment through our games. Our record engagement resulted in greater revenue and earnings per share than previously forecast. While economic uncertainty could have an impact on our near-term results, the initiatives that drove our growth for the first half of the year should also provide the foundation for long-term growth."

For the quarter ended June 30, 2020, Activision Blizzard's net revenues presented in accordance with GAAP were $1.93 billion, as compared with $1.40 billion for the second quarter of 2019. GAAP net revenues from digital channels were $1.59 billion, as compared with $1.09 billion for the second quarter of 2019. GAAP operating margin was 39%. GAAP earnings per diluted share were $0.75, as compared with $0.43 for the second quarter of 2019.