Big Blizzard Announcement Regarding World of Warcraft Security

You know that big teaser page on Blizzard's website that we talked about a few days ago? The one that reveals a new piece of information, taking fans of the company to the edge. The one that some think marks the announcement of Diablo III. The one that spawned endless speculation threads on all the forums where someone is interested in Blizzard and its games. Well, there's no longer any mystery regarding the page. Blizzard has made its big announcement, even if the Worldwide Invitational in Paris is not open yet.

The World of Warcraft developer is announcing that it plans to release a "Blizzard Authenticator". It's a keychain addition which gives all WoW players a six digit security code designed especially by the company to "help prevent unauthorized account access".

There's a price tag of 6.50 dollars attached to the device and the code that's stored and generated will be unique and will only be valid for one use. The code will be linked, upon first use, to a particular World of Warcraft account that will then require the six digit code to be used to access that account. Blizzard believes that universal use of the six digit code might cut down significantly on account jacking by unscrupulous players.

The code stored in the Authenticator is not a replacement for the login and the password but it adds an extra layer of security. Initially, the device will only be on offer at the Paris Blizzard Invitational but the online Blizzard store will soon receive a supply.

Mike Morhaime, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Blizzard, stated that "It's important to us that World of Warcraft offers a safe and enjoyable game environment. One aspect of that is helping players avoid account compromise, so we're pleased to make this additional layer of security available to them".

Well, we really hope this is not the "big announcement" and we are really looking forward to see what else Blizzard has in store.