WoW: Forever breaks records for player return and new user surge

Blizzard is declaring victory with World of Warcraft: Forever, calling it the biggest launch in the MMO's long history. Per Eurogamer, the company says the release on November 4 set new records for peak concurrent players and lapsed users coming back.

Holly Longdale, the game's executive producer, shared more good news. According to her social media posts, the launch has also attracted the highest number of first-time players to a WoW release in a decade and a half, per the report.

Kotaku adds that amid this historic surge, a familiar record-holder has already made his mark. Player Daniel 'JokerD' Gobey, who was first to hit the level cap in 2019's WoW Classic, repeated the feat in Forever, reaching max level in just three days.

Blizzard hasn't released specific player counts, but the studio thanked the community for making history. The launch was reportedly smooth, and a recent hotfix addressed a bug that was giving the Horde an unfair advantage in certain player-versus-player battlegrounds.