WoW - lots of subscribers!

More than 1.5 million subscribers have signed up for MMORPG World of Warcraft, according to a statement issued by Blizzard Entertainment.

"All of us at Blizzard are extremely gratified and amazed at the international demand for World of Warcraft," said Blizzard president Mike Morhaime. "From region to region, we've seen a phenomenal level of enthusiam for WoW, and we're absolutely thrilled people are enjoying the game so much."

The game was released in North America last November and has since enjoyed successful launches in Korea and Europe, with the highest number of players online at one time topping 500,000.

In the US, demand for WoW was so great that Blizzard had to restrict the number of copies on sale to prevent server overload. It's not clear whether the same restrictions apply in Europe, but the game is currently impossible to get hold of from UK high street and online stores.