We all knew it was going to sell well, and if anything was going to set a new record for pc game sales it was going to be Wrath of the Lich King. Blizzard has announced that second of World of Warcraft expansion racked up 2.8 million sales worldwide in its first 24 hours on release.
This makes it the fastest-selling PC game ever released. It also keeps the title in the family; the previous record-holder was first WOW expansion The Burning Crusade, which managed 2.4 million in one day in January last year. But how well did Wrath of the Lich King do when compared to The Burning Crusade.
Firstly the 2.8 million sold that is based on “worldwide” sales could have been more as Australasia and south-east Asia got the expansion a day or two later, and China’s still waiting. And World of Warcraft has 11 million players worldwide now, versus the 8 million it had when Burning Crusade launched – so in terms of sell-through to subscribers, Lich King has actually under performed*.
The 3.5 million copies Burning Crusade sold in its first month will be the next of its own records Blizzard is looking to beat. And this round I fully expect Lich King to win as same analysts have been predicting sales around the 5 million mark.
*[Ed] I wish I could under perform like that…
Last Updated: November 21, 2008
Scotty777
November 21, 2008 at 14:44
wow, seems like pc gaming still aint dead… well, i guess this does give us pc gamers some hope 😀