The game was announced in 2001, and was released for the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise on November 23, 2004. Set in the Warcraft fantasy universe, World of Warcraft takes place within the world of Azeroth, approximately four years after the events of the previous game in the series, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. World of Warcraft ( WoW) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Massively multiplayer online role-playing