Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (
War3 or
WC3 or
RoC) is a real-time strategy computer game released by Blizzard Entertainment in July 2002. It is the second sequel to
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, and it is the third game set in the Warcraft Universe. An expansion pack,
The Frozen Throne, was released in 2003.
Warcraft III contains four playable races: Humans and Orcs, which had previously appeared in
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, and the Night Elves and Undead, which are new to the
Warcraft mythos.
Warcraft III's single-player campaign is laid out similarly to that of
StarCraft, being told through all four of the game's races in a progressive manner. Multiplayer mode allows for play against other people, via the internet, instead of playing against computer-controlled characters as is done in the single-player custom game mode.
The game proved to be one of the most anticipated and popular computer game releases ever, with 4.5 million units shipped to retail stores and over one million units sold within a month.
Warcraft III won many awards including "Game of the Year" from more than six different publications.
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne is a real-time strategy computer game developed for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Mac OS X by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the official expansion pack to
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, requiring the ownership of
Reign of Chaos to play. Released in stores worldwide in multiple languages beginning on July 1, 2003, it includes new units for each race, a new neutral race, four campaigns, five neutral heroes (an additional neutral hero was added April 2004 and two more were added in August 2004), the ability to build a shop and various other improvements such as the ability to queue upgrades. Sea units were reintroduced; they had been present in Warcraft II but were absent in
Reign of Chaos. Blizzard Entertainment has released patches for the game to fix bugs, add new features, and balance multiplayer.