Wow. Looks like the MMORPG industry is alive and well....
Burning Crusade Sets Charts Ablaze
In the blink of an eye, the first official expansion for World of Warcraft has toppled the day-1 sales record for a PC game. Burning Crusade sold 2.4 million copies worldwide within the first 24 hours. Moreover, Blizzard says that demand remains strong.
Well that didn't take long did it? Blizzard Entertainment's Burning Crusade expansion (released on January 16) for the ultra popular MMORPG World of Warcraft is already a huge success. With a worldwide total of nearly 2.4 million copies sold in the first 24 hours of availability, the game has instantly become the fastest selling PC game ever in North America and Europe.
Blizzard said that it shipped 4 million copies of Burning Crusade across the globe. In addition to North America and Europe, the game was sent to Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia, and on January 17 to Australia and New Zealand as well. Midnight madness type events occurred at over 5,000 retail locations.
According to Blizzard's internal company records and reports from key distribution partners, Burning Crusade sold about 1.2 million copies on the first day in North America and a little over 1.1 million copies in Europe during the same period. Blizzard noted that by the end of the first day of availability on both continents, more than 1.7 million players had already logged in and upgraded World of Warcraft to play Burning Crusade.
"The Burning Crusade has already exceeded even our most ambitious expectations," said an elated 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."
If this fantastic start is any indication, Burning Crusade could enjoy just as much success as World of Warcraft itself, which is saying quite a lot. WoW has already been played by over 8 million players globally, including more than 2 million in North America and over 1.5 million in Europe. Blizzard said that demand at retail has been sustained and the company has routed additional copies of the game to retailers to maintain stock levels.
"The immediate popularity of The Burning Crusade once again shows that Blizzard consistently delivers what gamers want," said Robert McKenzie, senior vice president of merchandising at GameStop Corp. "In addition to setting a new day-one PC-game sales record at our GameStop and EB Games stores, the expansion garnered more online pre-orders than any other PC game in our company's history."
In the blink of an eye, the first official expansion for World of Warcraft has toppled the day-1 sales record for a PC game. Burning Crusade sold 2.4 million copies worldwide within the first 24 hours. Moreover, Blizzard says that demand remains strong.
Well that didn't take long did it? Blizzard Entertainment's Burning Crusade expansion (released on January 16) for the ultra popular MMORPG World of Warcraft is already a huge success. With a worldwide total of nearly 2.4 million copies sold in the first 24 hours of availability, the game has instantly become the fastest selling PC game ever in North America and Europe.
Blizzard said that it shipped 4 million copies of Burning Crusade across the globe. In addition to North America and Europe, the game was sent to Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia, and on January 17 to Australia and New Zealand as well. Midnight madness type events occurred at over 5,000 retail locations.
According to Blizzard's internal company records and reports from key distribution partners, Burning Crusade sold about 1.2 million copies on the first day in North America and a little over 1.1 million copies in Europe during the same period. Blizzard noted that by the end of the first day of availability on both continents, more than 1.7 million players had already logged in and upgraded World of Warcraft to play Burning Crusade.
"The Burning Crusade has already exceeded even our most ambitious expectations," said an elated 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."
If this fantastic start is any indication, Burning Crusade could enjoy just as much success as World of Warcraft itself, which is saying quite a lot. WoW has already been played by over 8 million players globally, including more than 2 million in North America and over 1.5 million in Europe. Blizzard said that demand at retail has been sustained and the company has routed additional copies of the game to retailers to maintain stock levels.
"The immediate popularity of The Burning Crusade once again shows that Blizzard consistently delivers what gamers want," said Robert McKenzie, senior vice president of merchandising at GameStop Corp. "In addition to setting a new day-one PC-game sales record at our GameStop and EB Games stores, the expansion garnered more online pre-orders than any other PC game in our company's history."
Very Impressive. This bodes well for the PC to make a comeback with regards to games in the future.
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