The average price for 1,000 gold on US realms was $255, while the same 1,000 gold pieces could be had for about $32 in European realms. GamerPrice examines several possible reasons for this huge discrepancy, including the likelihood that US servers experience greater demand for gold and U.S. gamers have more disposable income. While these factors could certainly explain some of the price differential, GamerPrice believes that they don’t address the huge difference found in the study:

The cost involved in producing (farming) gold on Europe must simply be lower than the cost involved in producing the same gold on World of Warcraft USA. What this means is that Blizzard is policing its American realms far, far more rigorously than it is policing its European realms. The figures are so very different, that they suggest an extreme imbalance, even extreme negligence on behalf of Blizzard Europe. This suggests that in America, it’s actually harder for a farmer to produce gold than it naturally would be, because of an active and ongoing purge of these accounts, and indicating rigid standards, and good policing.

GamerPrice conducted its survey in “early 2007,” and provides server-by-server comparisons of the US and European realms. It’s one of a growing number of providers tracking trends in the game gold market. See the MMO RMT directory for a listing of services providing WoW gold pricing information.

Of the 8 million subscribers to WoW, there are 3.5 million players in China, 2 million in North America and 1.5 million in Europe. That means only 3.5 million current subscribers live in areas where the Burning Crusade went on sale. This suggests that up to 65 percent of WoW subscribers in those areas bought the expansion pack on the first day. By the end of the first day of availability on both continents, a total of more than 1.7 million players had already logged in and upgraded World of Warcraft to play The Burning Crusade. Even if we assume that some of the buyers were new players, that’s an incredible buy rate on a $40 product.

“The Burning Crusade has already exceeded even our most ambitious expectations,” said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re pleased that so many players are eager to see all of the new content that the expansion has to offer, and we look forward to seeing everyone online as additional players continue to upgrade in the days ahead.”

How much is WoW making? It’s hard to say for sure, as many of those subscribers pay less than the $14.95 monthly fee paid by most U.S. players. Blizzard’s press release say that subscribers include “individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers.” Game rooms (also known as “game bangs”) are huge in South Korea.

WoW is reported to have North American revenue of about $200 million. Income from Warcraft’s massive base of China gamers is much lower, as noted by Wagner James Au at GigaOm: “Chinese pay to play by the hour, and what they pay isn’t much: the yuan equivalent of $.04/hour. And while they play a lot, this also means total revenue from China is just 15% of WoW’s Western market. ($30 million versus $200 million, in 2006’s second quarter.)” WoW is available in seven different languages and is played in North America, Europe, mainland China, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

For additional coverage, see WoW Insider, Joystiq, Blue’s News and Clickable Culture.