The World of Warcraft expansion, The Burning Crusade, is now available online for US$39, just three weeks after the retail boxes were launched worldwide. In Singapore, the official price for the box is S$75. Blizzard has interestingly decided to open an alternative channel. The question is how this will affect sales in Singapore, especially since purchasing online is now about S$12 cheaper.

This move by Blizzard raises serious issues. What is the arrangement between AsiaSoft (the local dustributor) and Blizzard? Did Asiasoft and other worldwide distributors know that Blizzard was going to open the download channel so soon? Will the cheaper pricing affect sales of the game? What about retailers that may have stocked up on the game?

If Blizzard was going to launch the download version so soon, why not do it from day one? Why create so much of demand and hype from launch events all over the world, with people queueing up for hours to get the game?