Burning Crusade release date is January 16. World of Warcraft hits 7.5 million players!

World of Warcraft Expansion: Burning CrusadeBlizzard Entertainment announced today that World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade will be released in North American and European stores on January 16, 2007. The release of the WoW expansion in Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore will follow in a similar time frame.

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade will be available for Windows 2000/XP and Mac and will come in standard and a special Collector’s Edition. This limited edition set will include the expansion on both CD-ROM and DVD, the Art of the Burning Crusade coffee table book, an exclusive in-game pet, a behind-the-scenes DVD, a World of Warcraft Trading Card Game starter deck and exclusive cards, a map of Outland mouse pad and the official soundtrack CD.

World of Warcraft Expansion: Burning CrusadeIn addition to the release date announcement, Blizzard has also announced that the WoW subscriber base has now reached 7.5 million players worldwide.

“While World of Warcraft has continued to grow rapidly along with its player population, The Burning Crusade will represent our single largest addition of new game content and new features to date,” said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment.

Morhaime also gave fans his word that the game would meet their expectations, stating that the company will “continue balancing and play-testing up until launch to ensure that The Burning Crusade achieves that goal.” Press release via Prog