Blizzard has announced that second of World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King 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.

Most of those 2.8 million sales will have come from North America and Europe, although Lich King benefited from the addition of Chile, Argentina and Russia to Blizzard's domain. Australasia and south-east Asia got the expansion a day or two later, and China's still waiting.

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 performed fractionally less well than its predecessor.

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. One analyst has predicted that Lich King could net 5 million in the same period, according to Gamasutra.

hehe you beat me too it!

but here's two of the new commercials for wow!

www.youtube.com/watch     ozzy's

www.youtube.com/watch    steve van zandt

thats all? with 12 million players they only sold 2.8 million?

seriously I think that 12 million sub statement by blizzard is bullshit.

Think about it who the hell plays wow without all the Xpacs?

Anyway grats to blizzard on the Xpac, but i still think the sub number is fabricated to make them look good.

Originally posted by metalhead980

thats all? with 12 million players they only sold 2.8 million?

seriously I think that 12 million sub statement by blizzard is bullshit.

Think about it who the hell plays wow without all the Xpacs?

Anyway grats to blizzard on the Xpac, but i still think the sub number is fabricated to make them look good.

2.8 million during the first 24 hours, they don't say how much they sold so far.

This is verry good.

Originally posted by weaseltje

Originally posted by metalhead980

thats all? with 12 million players they only sold 2.8 million?

seriously I think that 12 million sub statement by blizzard is bullshit.

Think about it who the hell plays wow without all the Xpacs?

Anyway grats to blizzard on the Xpac, but i still think the sub number is fabricated to make them look good.

 

2.8 million during the first 24 hours, they don't say how much they sold so far.

This is verry good.

We will see, If WotLK doesnt equal the WoW playerbase in sales i call the sub number every fanboi waves in front of a non-WoW players face bullshit.

Originally posted by metalhead980

Originally posted by weaseltje

Originally posted by metalhead980

thats all? with 12 million players they only sold 2.8 million?

seriously I think that 12 million sub statement by blizzard is bullshit.

Think about it who the hell plays wow without all the Xpacs?

Anyway grats to blizzard on the Xpac, but i still think the sub number is fabricated to make them look good.

 

2.8 million during the first 24 hours, they don't say how much they sold so far.

This is verry good.

 

We will see, If WotLK doesnt equal the WoW playerbase in sales i call the sub number every fanboi waves in front of a non-WoW players face bullshit.

I actually have a few friends who are playing without the recent xpac. They dont have a high enough character to benefit from anything in the xpac so why  get it when you dont need it?

Well that 2.8mil + is the hardcore OMG I gotta have this and get to lvl 80 and see everything before anyone else first crowd.  There are millions of casuals that aren't ready to jump into Lich King right away. 

I'm kinda in that crowd as a more hardcore/casual, meaning I can put a ton of time into the game but I don't have to be first to see stuff and would rather wait on the mad rush to spread out so I'm not fighting over mobs in the first quest areas...if ya know what I mean!

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Originally posted by Khrymson
Well that 2.8mil + is the hardcore OMG I gotta have this and get to lvl 80 and see everything before anyone else first crowd.  There are millions of casuals that aren't ready to jump into Lich King right away. 
I'm kinda in that crowd as a more hardcore/casual, meaning I can put a ton of time into the game but I don't have to be first to see stuff and would rather wait on the mad rush to spread out so I'm not fighting over mobs in the first quest areas...if ya know what I mean!

---

Hmm..Millions of people that hasn't reached the endgame !! In a game that is now 4+ years old , unless these are somewhat new players then I do not buy this statement at all...

Most people that plays a game and likes it also buys the expansion heads on, atleast in the guilds I have been in there has ALWAYS been a 99% ratio..

As the above poster states, the figures should be very close to the 11 million mark or there simply isn't that many subscribers..

Atleast 8-9 mil should have bought the expansion the first 24 hours..

All my friends that still play and enjoys WoW has bought the expansion on release, this is a 100 % ratio, althou this is a small fraction of the game it still tells me something..

I must admit, WoW is the only MMORPG that I have played that has actually kept me for long enough and held my interest. Although endgame might be the same old stuff, there's still lots to do apart from that.

Lich King is great, the story line continues.

Edit: And if I'm not corrected, I believe that's officially bigger than The Beatles.

Originally posted by thark

 

---

As the above poster states, the figures should be very close to the 11 million mark or there simply isn't that many subscribers..

Atleast 8-9 mil should have bought the expansion the first 24 hours..

 

Its no different than with BC, there were some 8-9 million players when that launched and it only sold 2.4mil in 24hrs.  There are way more players than you think that don't have to be the first to get something just cause its available.  If they're not ready to do that content then there is no reason to get it yet.

...and so far thats just reports in the first 24hrs, I bet when the NPD hits end of this month total sold will be over 7mil or more...

The explanation why 2.8 million sold copies to a 12 million player base doesn't add up is simple. The 12 million figure includes the chinese player base which is bigger than the combined EU and US player base. The chinese players didn't get TBC at the same time we did and they got it for free from what I've heard. I'm guessing it's going to be the same with WotLK, but if anyone knows the actual facts, then please correct me.

the statment clearly states it does not include china, so thats 2.8million to a player base of about 4 million EU+US players in 24 hours.

TBC sold 2.4million in 24 hours and 3.6million in 1 month to a base of 3.8 million EU+US players

so its about the same.

so clear things up WRATH is not avaliable in china yet, just as TBC was not at launch. be a few months yet.

Originally posted by coffee

the statment clearly states it does not include china, so that 2.8million to a player base of about 4 million EU+US players in 24 hours.

TBC sold 2.4million to a base of 3.6 million EU+US players

so its aboutt he same.

When did Wow lose two million players in NA/Euro?

Last time I checked WoW had near six million NA/Euro players. (something like 5.5 million+)

These sub numbers seem off to me.

Anyway once blizzard puts out an official report of 12 million players buying the Xpac then I will believe they have that many.

Anyone know how many copies of TBC sold? did it surpass the 12 million mark? yeah probably not.

Originally posted by Lence

Blizzard has announced that second of World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King 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.

Most of those 2.8 million sales will have come from North America and Europe, although Lich King benefited from the addition of Chile, Argentina and Russia to Blizzard's domain. Australasia and south-east Asia got the expansion a day or two later, and China's still waiting.

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 performed fractionally less well than its predecessor.

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. One analyst has predicted that Lich King could net 5 million in the same period, according to Gamasutra.

And how many copies were bought by Gold farmers?

Originally posted by metalhead980

Originally posted by coffee

the statment clearly states it does not include china, so that 2.8million to a player base of about 4 million EU+US players in 24 hours.

TBC sold 2.4million to a base of 3.6 million EU+US players

so its aboutt he same.

 

When did Wow lose two million players in NA/Euro?

Last time I checked WoW had near six million NA/Euro players. (something like 5.5 million+)

These sub numbers seem off to me.

Anyway once blizzard puts out an official report of 12 million players buying the Xpac then I will believe they have that many.

Anyone know how many copies of TBC sold? did it surpass the 12 million mark? yeah probably not.

the last time we had offical western figures was january 2008 http://www.blizzard.com/us/press/080122.html 4.5million EU+US subs.
 

Originally posted by redcap036

Originally posted by Lence

Blizzard has announced that second of World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King 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.

Most of those 2.8 million sales will have come from North America and Europe, although Lich King benefited from the addition of Chile, Argentina and Russia to Blizzard's domain. Australasia and south-east Asia got the expansion a day or two later, and China's still waiting.

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 performed fractionally less well than its predecessor.

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. One analyst has predicted that Lich King could net 5 million in the same period, according to Gamasutra.

 

And how many copies were bought by Gold farmers?

less than 1% I would imagine. just like WAR,AOC and others.

Originally posted by metalhead980

Originally posted by coffee

the statment clearly states it does not include china, so that 2.8million to a player base of about 4 million EU+US players in 24 hours.

TBC sold 2.4million to a base of 3.6 million EU+US players

so its aboutt he same.

 

When did Wow lose two million players in NA/Euro?

Last time I checked WoW had near six million NA/Euro players. (something like 5.5 million+)

These sub numbers seem off to me.

Anyway once blizzard puts out an official report of 12 million players buying the Xpac then I will believe they have that many.

Anyone know how many copies of TBC sold? did it surpass the 12 million mark? yeah probably not.

Hey Einstien show me an xpac that's sold 1:1 with the base game from any genre, any platform.

Good luck with that by the way.

Originally posted by Martie

lol so much for all the haters and doomsayers.  Another top job done by Blizzard.

Top job? I don't really see a "top job" I see, they added 10 more levels of grind, and new dungeons to do...EXACTLY what you did 10 levels ago in. Yaaay. Enjoy keeping your head in the ground. Its amazing what a company can do when it caters to the lowest common denominator. 

Also, there's only about 2 mil subscribers in the US, all the rest are in Asia (except 1.5 mill in Europe).

And lastly, WoW likes to count the trial accounts and canceled accounts as subscription numbers. Enjoy. 

Originally posted by SignusM

Originally posted by Martie

lol so much for all the haters and doomsayers.  Another top job done by Blizzard.

Top job? I don't really see a "top job" I see, they added 10 more levels of grind, and new dungeons to do...EXACTLY what you did 10 levels ago in. Yaaay. Enjoy keeping your head in the ground. Its amazing what a company can do when it caters to the lowest common denominator. 

 

Also, there's only about 2 mil subscribers in the US, all the rest are in Asia (except 1.5 mill in Europe).

And lastly, WoW likes to count the trial accounts and canceled accounts as subscription numbers. Enjoy. 

By your most pessimistic projections WoW outsells their nearest competitors five to one. In any market you'd care to mention. That's box sales not subscriptions. Slice it any way you like WoW is the proven performer.

Anyone doubted this? Wow is at it's all time high right now, the time when the content is the most while the graphics is still ok.

If it is the best content or not can off course always be discussed but most wow players really had to buy this box.

The question is more if they can do this again in 2 years, or if they plan to release their new MMO then instead?

If they wan'tto do it again, they will have to totalt revamp the engine (6 1/2 year i a long time for a computer game). Off course they do have the money for it. On the other hand, it is very possible that Wow2 is the game in making, Blizz always liked doing sequels.