Ten million people are now paying to play in the Alliance versus Horde war constructed by Blizzard Entertainment, the Irvine company announced today.

“It’s very gratifying to see gamers around the world continuing to show such enthusiasm and support for World of Warcraft,” said Mike Morhaime, Blizzard’s CEO and cofounder.

The game that debuted Nov. 23, 2004, now has more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America and about 5.5 million in Asia. Subscribers only include players who are paying a subscription fee, who have an active prepaid card, who are within the first free month of access to the game or who access the game in Internet gaming rooms.

The Nielsen Company named it the No. 1 PC game title in the U.S. between April and November of 2007. According to the report, WoW players spent an average of just over 17 hours per week — roughly 2.5 hours per night — playing the game. That would mean that WoW gamers spend an average 10% of their time in the mythical land of Azeroth. Some people are obviously spending well over three hours nightly.

World of Warcraft was also the bestselling PC game in 2005 and 2006 worldwide, but finished behind only the game’s “The Burning Crusade” expansion pack for 2007, according to Blizzard and based on industry sales and reports from distribution partners.

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