Game time
Game time is the definitive way for an account to have access to World of Warcraft, whether it is to access retail, Classic, or Classic Era. Without game time, a player can only play retail client via the Free Trial or if an account had game time previously, as a Veteran account. Players can see how many game time days they have left in the Battle.net desktop app for the selected account.
The price for game time each month is $15 USD and has remained at that price since the game launched back in 2004. John Hight at GDC 2024 in March 2024 stated that there are currently no plans to change the subscription price from $15 USD a month.[1] This is separate from Australia and New Zealand, as those regions receive occasional price adjustments due to a variety of factors which includes the global and regional market conditions.[2]
Obtaining game time
There are various methods to obtain game time, but the most simple way is to purchase the "60 Days" from the Battle.net Shop, purchase the 
[WoW Token] with gold
, or the 
[Game Time] item from the Recruit A Friend program.
There are other methods of obtaining game time:
- An expansion edition that includes game time (e.g. The War Within Epic Edition)
- 60-Day Pre-Paid Game Card
- Battle.net Gift Card
- World of Warcraft New Player Edition
- Unique bundles, one of which was the Celebration Collection Epic Pack from BlizzConline which provided 30 days.
Prior to 25 March 2021, game time was available at intervals of 30, 90, and 180 days. They have since been replaced with a 60 days option as the only option.[3]
Subscription
The subscription usually refers to automatic monthly periods to access World of Warcraft. Subscribing from the Battle.net Shop can be done in increments of 30 days, 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months. However, the payments will go through automatically instead of having to do it manually. An account with an active subscription will not display the amount of days left on the Battle.net desktop app.
A player can start a subscription with either of the following:
- 1 Month ($15 USD/month); provides 30 days of game time.
- 3 Months ($14 USD/month); provides 90 days of game time.
- 6 Months ($13 USD/month); provides 180 days of game time with the addition of some in-game goodies (see the 6-Month Subscription Bundle).
- 12 Months ($13 USD/month); provides 365 days of game time with the addition of multiple in-game goodies including the current and upcoming in-game goodies from the 6-Month bundle (see the 12-Month Subscription Bundle).
Trials
The following bundles provided a specific amount of game time for a new World of Warcraft account. Prior to the Battle.net account migration, these were starting points to begin a new account.
- 10-day Free Trial (10 days only)
- World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Trial Edition (10 days only)
- 14-day Free Trial (14 days only)
- World of Warcraft: Trial Edition (14 days only)
Notes
- Due to a production error in the Europe region with The Burning Crusade Collector's Edition not including a code to the
[Netherwhelp's Collar], players were compensated with 2 days of game time and a secondary exclusive pet, 
[Lurky's Egg].[4][5] - Game time is provided by Blizzard sometimes as a free bonus or for compensation due to maintenance.
- With the release of patch 5.4.0, there was a 7-day free game time available for a limited time only.[6]
- An extra day of game time was provided for accounts that were active as of 23 July 2024 since the maintenance period for patch 11.0.0 took nearly all day for North American realms.[7]
See also
References
- ^ Tyler Colp 2024-03-22. Against all odds, World of Warcraft's subscription price hasn't changed in 20 years: 'I'd rather have a big, healthy, happy audience' than risk driving players away with a price hike, Warcraft boss says. PC Gamer.
- ^ Jaydaa 2025-01-06. Price Changes for World of Warcraft Services in Australia and New Zealand. Wowhead.
- ^
Bornakk 2021-03-25. Changes to Purchasable Game Time Options. Blizzard Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2021-05-16. Retrieved on 2021-04-01.
- ^ WoW-Europe - Netherwhelp Redemption Guide. Archived from the original on 2007-01-18.
- ^ Psyonix 2016-11-04. WoW Forums - The Burning Crusade Collector's Edition.. Archived from the original on 2018-09-19. “Lurky was not part of the Collector's Edition. Lurky was offered as compensation to European players who had issues receiving their Burning Crusade collector's edition Netherwhelp's Collar when the expansion came out.”
- ^ Warcraft on Twitter. Blizzard Entertainment (2013-09-10). Retrieved on 2018-02-27. “Return to WoW FREE for 7 days and check out all the new epic content in patch 5.4 Siege of Orgrimmar!”
- ^ Game Time Incoming for Players on North American Realms. Blizzard Entertainment (2024-07-25).
External links
Battle.net Shop Game time- Battle.net Shop Subscription