 Front page | |
Type of site | Searchable database |
|---|---|
| Available in | English, German, Spanish, French, Russian, Portuguese, Italian |
| Owner | ZAM Network LLC (doing business as Fanbyte),Tencent |
| URL | www |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Free |
| Launched | June 26, 2006; 18 years ago (2006-06-26) |
| Current status | Online |
Wowhead is a website that provides a searchable database,internet forum, guides andplayer character services for the popularmassively multiplayer online role-playing gameWorld of Warcraft. It is owned and operated by ZAM Network LLC (doing business as Fanbyte),[1][2][3] a subsidiary of theChinese companyTencent.[4][5][6]
The site first started out as a talent calculator for the game. It was in beta from April 4 to June 25, 2006,[7] and the database was released on June 26, 2006.[8] Wowhead functions as auser generated database relying upon players ofWorld of Warcraft themselves, although the information is uploaded automatically through a client-sideprogram.
Client software is available for both theMicrosoft Windows andMacintosh platforms.[9] Users can manually add comments to database items or discuss the items themselves in a moderated forum.[10] Comments placed on database items are moderated by the community themselves, with members having the option to "down-rank" outdated and unuseful posts to the point where they are purged, and "up-rank" posts of significance so that they are highlighted.[11] The database is automaticallycross referenced by the software between items,non-player characters andzones or dungeons.[12]
Wowhead garnered some attention when it was purchased by ZAM Network,[13] a subsidiary of Affinity Media which formerly ownedreal-money trading firmIGE.[14] Fanbyte also owns other gaming andWorld of Warcraft information sites such asThottbot andAllakhazam.[15]
On July 22, 2009, Wowhead announced that it would be offering its members access to premium service for a recurring subscription in order to help support the website. The premium service offers enhanced usage of the website, removes ads, grants a wider range of forum privileges, and allows paying members to skip to the front of the process queue forWorld of Warcraft player character information requests.[16][17]
In early 2019, it was announced that a new version of the site would be launched alongside the original, exclusively covering data forWorld of Warcraft Classic and, later, itsBurning Crusade expansion.[18]
In 2021, Wowhead began covering the Diablo franchise withDiablo 2: Resurrected during the Alpha release in July. They briefly coveredDiablo Immortal before pausing content creation on that title, and are now coveringDiablo 4 as well.
In 2009, ZAM Network (Wowhead's operating company) suedCurse LLC for copyright infringement. ZAM Network alleged that Curse's competing website, WOWDB.com, stole Wowhead's look and layout purposely to create confusion among customers. A judge dismissed the lawsuit.[19]
At the beginning of March 2022, Fanbyte blocked seven countries (China,Indonesia,Philippines,Thailand,Turkey,Serbia andIndia) from accessing their websites, including Wowhead. Community Manager Sas148 released the following statement via the Wowhead Feedback section of theirDiscord server:
"This decision is ultimately due to legal compliance and liability issues with respect to these countries and their laws/regulations. This action was not based on any specific law or regulation in any one or more of the listed countries. Our decision was due to the legal costs involved with reviewing the laws and regulations of the listed countries, in contrast with the amount of visitors/revenue earned from them. As a result of this analysis, we decided not to pursue a legal review and to mitigate our liability in these countries, we opted to block access entirely. This is an indefinite decision. I and the rest of the Wowhead staffgenuinely apologize for the inconvenience this will cause you. It was a tough decision but one that we ultimately had to accept. Note: This has at all to do withRussia/Ukraine or any other political/military engagements around the world."[20]
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