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Blizzard's WoW expansion sells 2.4 million on first day

Blizzard Entertainment said that its World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade has broken the day-one sales record to become the fastest-selling PC game ever in North America and Europe, with a worldwide total of nearly 2.4 million copies sold in the first 24 hours of availability. The Burning Crusade, the first expansion set for World of Warcraft, was simultaneously released in North America, Europe, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia on January 16, and on January 17 in Australia and New Zealand. Blizzard had supplied more than 4 million game boxes to retailers worldwide, and more than 5,000 of those retailers held midnight launch events.

Day-one sales totals on both continents were similar, with an estimated total of nearly 1.2 million copies sold on the first day in North America and an estimated total of more than 1.1 million copies sold in Europe within the first 24 hours of launch. 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 to play The Burning Crusade.

“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.”

Prior to the launch of The Burning Crusade, World of Warcraft was played by more than 8 million players around the world – with more than 2 million on North American realms and more than 1.5 million on European realms – making it the most successful subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game in PC-gaming history.

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Fastest selling *PC* game
By therealnickdanger on 1/24/2007 8:58:39 AM , Rating: 2
I believe Halo2 sold over that in its first 24 hours. I still haven't played WoW fully, so I haven't been sucked in yet... War2 was my favorite of the franchise, followed by War1. I used to play those relentlessly. War3 bored me to tears, so I didn't bother checking out WoW for quite a while, especially since it's not a RTS. One day, if they ever make it cheaper to play online or make it free, I'll jump on the bandwagon. One last thing, I regret being one of those suckers that bought Halo2. I'm sorry.




RE: Fastest selling *PC* game
By jlmadyson on 1/24/2007 9:09:13 AM , Rating: 2
Yea that should read fastest selling PC game ever. Halo 2 did 125 million in 1 day, this did close to 100 million.


RE: Fastest selling *PC* game
By TOAOCyrus on 1/24/2007 9:17:29 AM , Rating: 3
I believe they mean it sold the most units in 24 hours not made the most money. Burning Cursade is an expansion pack so its going to be a lot cheaper then a full game.


RE: Fastest selling *PC* game
By slickr on 1/25/2007 1:14:28 AM , Rating: 2
"In its first 24 hours of retail availability, the flagship title for Microsoft's Xbox gaming system sold approximately 340,000 copies." -Taken from money.cnn
So yeah blizzard's WOW:BC expansion sold hmmm let me see tripple-quad more units in the first day of it's release!

"Microsoft announced late Wednesday that retailers sold 2.4 million copies of "Halo 2" on Tuesday" - taken from money.cnn
so yeah again it sold basicly same amount of units as WOW:BC in did in a day while halo 2 did that in more than a week!

"6.4 million units of the game were sold in less than three months" -taken from joystiq.com
so yeah yet again it's still short of wow 8 millions ACTIVE subscribers.
anyways speaking for me i don't like wow and i don't play it! I just hope blizzard makes Starcraft 2 until 2008!
on another note halo 2 is a Xbox game and it's not even close to some of the worlds top sellings games.
The top selling games in the world:
The Sims - more than 50 million units sold
The sims 2 - more than 30 million sold

and lastly i think halo and halo 2 for the xbox are very overrated, pc halo didn't sell even nearly as halo/2 xbox games sold!


RE: Fastest selling *PC* game
By Le Québécois on 1/24/2007 9:13:58 AM , Rating: 3
quote:
One day, if they ever make it cheaper to play online or make it free, I'll jump on the bandwagon.


I'll doubt that. If anything, the industry is going the other way. With Xbox-Live requiring you to pay to play online for the Xbox and the X360 I fear the PC gaming's industry will soon require you to pay monthly fees for multiplayers games like Battlefield and other free online games genre.


RE: Fastest selling *PC* game
By maevinj on 1/24/2007 9:48:50 AM , Rating: 5
But if the industry starts putting in billboard adds like bf2142 then maybe that will curb the need for a monthly subscription. I would much rather see an add from Nvidia in game than fork over 15 bucks a month to play online.


RE: Fastest selling *PC* game
By Tsuwamono on 1/24/2007 10:57:38 AM , Rating: 3
Me too, however not on my PC.. im too paranoid to allow that kind of adware on my PC. I know its "safe" because its by a game developer its their disclaimer in the package that freaked me out.


RE: Fastest selling *PC* game
By Akazar on 1/24/2007 11:08:52 AM , Rating: 2
I'm not sure which way the pc market is going to go. There are already free online games out there like Guildwars.

There are so many online rpgs coming out. Age of Conan, Vanguard Saga of Heroes, Marvel superheroes, World War 2 online, .....and about 20 more. Wow may finally lose there hold on the gaming market. There is a site that keeps track of subscriptions of Mmorgs.

www.mmorgchart.com (not sure if I can post this link).


RE: Fastest selling *PC* game
By SigmaHyperion on 1/24/2007 12:02:16 PM , Rating: 2
Um, World War 2 Online (now called Battlefield Europe) has been out for over 5 years. They've been talking about a box re-release, but can't get a publisher, but you can download the game for free on their site and just pay the monthly fee.


RE: Fastest selling *PC* game
By Souka on 1/24/2007 11:29:17 AM , Rating: 1
bf2142 doesn't put "adware" on your PC. (well, according to EA)

"BF 2142 delivers ads by region. The advertising system uses a player's IP address to determine the region of the player, assisting to serve the appropriate ads by region and language. For instance, a player in Paris might be presented with ads in French. The information collected will not be repurposed for other uses."



RE: Fastest selling *PC* game
By CrasHxxx on 1/24/2007 12:07:51 PM , Rating: 5
I totally agree with you. I'm not much for adds, but if it makes my services cheaper or free I will put up with them.

The only problem I can see is that if an add catches my eye and I'm wrting down the info/checking the hyperlink, I could be fragged in game!

"DAMMIT! Didn't you see the "Chat/Checking AD" bubble over my head? Noob!"


RE: Fastest selling *PC* game
By Ard on 1/24/2007 10:10:56 AM , Rating: 2
Halo 2 sold the same amount, 2.4 million. Sales are obviously higher due to the fact that Halo 2 cost more.

"The first official release of Halo 2 was in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States on November 9, 2004. Anticipation for the game was high; three weeks before this release, a record 1.5 million copies had already been pre-ordered.[23] This was followed by releases on November 10, 2004 in France and other European countries, and November 11 in the UK. The game sold 2.4 million copies and earned up to US$125 million in its first 24 hours on store shelves"


RE: Fastest selling *PC* game
By kelmon on 1/24/2007 10:28:14 AM , Rating: 2
Without wishing to get into the usual flame wars over the issue, but how do you classify the Mac for this since, in typical Blizzard style, both Mac and PC clients are included in the box? The Mac community doesn't get a whole lot of games but we got Worlds of Warcraft and it's pretty popular so I'd be sure that Burning Crusade has been bought as well.

Personally, I would have bought it as well but since I've only just started playing and don't have much interest in playing either a Blood Elf or Draeni (sp?) I've passed on this until I need it.


RE: Fastest selling *PC* game
By rushfan2006 on 1/24/2007 10:42:16 AM , Rating: 2
I was going to be HIGHLY sarcastic since in my original post *I* did say "PC Game"...but I looked at your time stamp and mine - there is only a 2 minute difference so chance is you didn't read my post before you wrote yours.

I agree...PC wise yes...Game industry wise -- its been done before.

Of course if one wanted to go on an "anal" crusade - I'd suggest that over all TBC has outsold Halo 2 by now or very shortly will. These figures are just on "launch".

but total game sales I wouldn't doubt for a second if they outstrip Halo 2 sales.


By therealnickdanger on 1/24/2007 11:55:33 AM , Rating: 2
No issue here, I wasn't attempting to compare e-penis size. There were no comments when I clicked "post comment". I just noted that they headline did not specify "PC game" and I was confident that Halo2 had sold at least 2.4m copies its first day. Halo2's hype machine was incredible...

Lower cost aside, expansion packs shouldn't really count as games, since you can't play it by itself, it's not really a "game". While I can't be positive, I would think that this would be the fastest selling expansion pack ever - across all platforms.

By virtue of there being hundreds of millions of PCs in the world, I should hope WoW has sold more copies total than Halo2 (that POS) with its tens of millions of Xboxs (Xboxes?) and 360s... but then every Xbox can play Halo2 and not every PC can play WoW... I digress.

Props to WoW. Halo2 blows. :D


RE: Fastest selling *PC* game
By Kromis on 1/24/2007 4:20:34 PM , Rating: 2
What about the original The Sims?


RE: Fastest selling *PC* game
By rushfan2006 on 1/25/2007 9:03:58 AM , Rating: 2
Don't worry you aren't alone....I was also a sucker and bought Halo 2....didn't even finish the game because I really didn't like it enough to continue half way through.



That is a lot of dough...
By GTaudiophile on 1/24/2007 10:59:00 AM , Rating: 2
2.4 million x $40/copy = $96,000,000 in one day!

8 million monthly subscribers x $15/month = $120,000,000/month or $1.4 BILLION/year!

I know development costs for the game can't be THAT much, so I would assume that each and every employee at Blizzard has got to be a multi-millionaire!




RE: That is a lot of dough...
By Griswold on 1/24/2007 11:04:38 AM , Rating: 2
Development cost is one thing, maintaining the server farm and the fat pipe that connects it to the addicts is the other cost factor you have to include.


RE: That is a lot of dough...
By Scrogneugneu on 1/25/2007 12:12:34 AM , Rating: 2
Pipes?

I assume you meant tubes?


RE: That is a lot of dough...
By GoatMonkey on 1/24/2007 11:12:48 AM , Rating: 2
That says to me that Blizzard will find a way to charge a subscription fee whenever they get around to releasing Starcraft 2.


RE: That is a lot of dough...
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 1/24/2007 11:20:08 AM , Rating: 2
Not so much. But this will likely allow Blizzard to build a better SC2, as they will have plenty of money to finance it.


RE: That is a lot of dough...
By Akazar on 1/24/2007 11:48:24 AM , Rating: 2
Well Vivendi is the parent company. And you're right the quality of games coming from sierra (who is owned by Vivendi) has improved. I wonder how much money is funneled out of Blizzard. I know Blizzard has alot of overhead but I'm sure it's not operating at a loss.

I also heard rumors that Starcraft Online Rpg is being made. But then again...it's only a rumor.


RE: That is a lot of dough...
By MrDiSante on 1/24/2007 1:52:53 PM , Rating: 2
Probably the best move for Blizzard would be to make SC2 a subscription based title. I'm personally not a huge gamer (though I do game a bit, all the usual titles, CS, HL2, WCII/III, SC, Company of Heroes etc) and you wouldn't find me paying for a subscription for WoW, but if there's one game I'd be willing to cough up cash for every month it'd be Starcraft 2 (assuming it lives up to its heritage). In sort of related news, SC2 might be on the way for 2008. http://pc.ign.com/articles/755/755925p1.html . Just hope they don't take my advice and make it a "cough up 80$ once and forget about it".


RE: That is a lot of dough...
By walk2k on 1/24/2007 1:43:49 PM , Rating: 3
They don't have 8 million subscribers, that's the total number of boxes sold. They probably have about 2-3 million concurrent subscribers at most. The rest either quit after the first free month, or played a few months then got bored like most people. Also some huge number of them where probably chinese farmer bots that used them for 1 day before they got banned ... lol.


RE: That is a lot of dough...
By rushfan2006 on 1/24/2007 3:04:50 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
They don't have 8 million subscribers, that's the total number of boxes sold. They probably have about 2-3 million concurrent subscribers at most.


Actually you are right and wrong at the same time here. Right in that I agree with you - its highly doubtful that there is sustained 8 million paying accounts all active at the same time on any given day.

However, wrong in the fact that when they calculate the 8 million number it was pretty much nothing more than an accounting department project. They merely tallied up all paid ("sold") subscriptions that AT THE TIME of their tally they ALL "technically" were active (they had valid play time on them) .... whether they are used for playing or not is not of concern -- they are just saying "Our records show that we did in fact have 8 million PAID accounts".

That's all. And when you think about that's the most accurate way -- base it off the PAID memberships. If you buy a product but never use it -- that's your problem, but the company still isn't out of line by calling it a legit "sale".



RE: That is a lot of dough...
By Akazar on 1/24/2007 3:37:16 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
They don't have 8 million subscribers, that's the total number of boxes sold


Actually they DO have over 8 million subscribers. They broke 5million barrier some time ago before they opened up WoW in China and Korea.

Omg....I'm such a wow addict I keep coming to this topic.


RE: That is a lot of dough...
By walk2k on 1/25/2007 7:34:29 PM , Rating: 2
According to Mmogchart.com which is the most reliable source of this kind of information, Blizzard counts a subscriber as "any account that that has been active for at least 30 days" which means any box that was bought and then the person logged in at least once (you get 30 days free). So ok not just "boxes sold", but "accounts used at least once".

The chart hasn't been updated since July but it says they have 6.6 million active subscribers, with 1-2 million in the US and 1 million in Europe, the rest are in China (and probably 90% of them are farmer/bots).


Can't say I'm all that shocked at this news.
By rushfan2006 on 1/24/2007 8:56:14 AM , Rating: 2
Most successful MMORPG game in the history of PC gaming. 8 million accounts (defined by blizz as any account that is paid up for a minimum of 30 days (making it "active")).

And its been 2 years and this is the first major new content release --- not shocking at all that they are selling this like hot cakes.





RE: Can't say I'm all that shocked at this news.
By ghost101 on 1/24/2007 9:05:56 AM , Rating: 1
Not surprised either. It already has a huge fan base, and is one of those games which are(is?) impossible to pirate.


RE: Can't say I'm all that shocked at this news.
By cochy on 1/24/2007 9:19:59 AM , Rating: 2
You can pirate it. There are free WoW servers that can be played on.

If you do all the numbers this game is just such a massive cash cow for Blizzard. It will undoubtedly be the most successful PC game ever.


RE: Can't say I'm all that shocked at this news.
By NuroMancer on 1/24/2007 9:58:40 AM , Rating: 4
quote:
It will undoubtedly be the most successful PC game ever.


I'm not sure making a sweeping statement like that is a smart thing. The gaming industry is growing every year, and thus it makes sense that there will be a game, possibly from Blizzard, that will be more successful.


RE: Can't say I'm all that shocked at this news.
By h0kiez on 1/24/2007 10:42:22 AM , Rating: 2
I'm guessing he meant heretofore.


By cochy on 1/24/2007 4:53:30 PM , Rating: 2
lol yes i was. Thought that was obvious. Unless I'm some kind of fortune teller.

Blizzard mentions that they have a world wide subscribed player base of 7.5 million players. At $15 a month this base generates a cool $112.5 million a month! The best selling PC video game according to Wikipedia is The Sims with 16 million sales. Assume $50 a sale that puts sales for The Sims at $800 million. WoW was release in 2004, but let's just take 2007 as an example. If Blizzard keeps their 7.5 million users stable for 2007 they will generate $1.35 BILLION in 2007. Remember I'm not counting the past 2 years of monthly revenues, just this one year of 2007. Eat your heart out Sims. Blizzard has a monstrous cash cow on their hands here. Expect them to milk it to the bone.

I'm not even counting the retail says of WoW or the recent record sales of Burning Crusade.


By rushfan2006 on 1/24/2007 10:45:59 AM , Rating: 2
True enough..but yet at the same time its a silly statement. As with anything you want to talk about we don't know with 100% certainty what the future holds, but its not a very risk taking kind of prediction to assume at some point in time, something will come along bigger, better, whatever.

This all said -- in gross amounts just do simple math and Blizzard has grossed BILLIONS off of WoW since day one...not a whole lot of companies can claim that OFF A SINGLE TITLE.



By rushfan2006 on 1/24/2007 10:50:47 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
You can pirate it. There are free WoW servers that can be played on.


I'd assume what the guy really meant was more that its pointless to pirate an MMO. As the genre implies the whole game's central point and theme is a "Massively Multi-player Online" experience. So you pirate the game and create a free Wow server (or use one already on the 'net)....yeah its cool that on the free servers you can basically be a "god" -- give yourself anything, kill anything....but what's the point? That is cool for like 30 minutes and then you long for the main stay of the genre -- the community and the interaction with thousands of other players, not to mention the aspect of having your "guild mates" to quest with and stuff.



RE: Can't say I'm all that shocked at this news.
By Akazar on 1/24/2007 11:02:33 AM , Rating: 2
I wonder if any guilds setup free wow servers to practice encounters on. It would be great be able to port yourself straight to the boss and practice strategies. (yes, I'm a former wow addict, my GF put a stop to my late night encounters...but I still crave it).


By Aikouka on 1/24/2007 11:45:33 AM , Rating: 2
I thought it'd be best if I helped to clear up your vision of these "private servers."

These servers are nothing like the ones you're used to. They're best referred to as "emulated" servers as they emulate the responses to the connected WoW clients, yet they don't necessarily work in the same way as the Blizzard servers do. The servers are also typically not "fleshed out" like the normal servers are. Everything is in a giant database and to do everything... well, it'd be quite massive. Not to mention the encounters that you mention would require AI scripts written to properly emulate them.

I will admit that my knowledge of this comes from running my own (for my private use). They're really a "Game Genie" experience where you play it just to be that "God" character, but you can only summon bosses so often and kill them with a single command before it gets boring :P.

I will mention that there are people who run public emulated servers that are constantly working on their databases. If you went to their servers (I have no names or addresses, this has been by "word of post"), it'd probably be a bit different experience.


Addiction is a funny thing
By GrandMareg on 1/24/2007 9:20:28 AM , Rating: 2
If the high I was getting started to wane from my daily dose of crack I would go right back to the dealer too if they had the stronger stuff for sale.

Has Blizzard managed to put in a message warning about game addiction yet? Even if the reason behind avoiding that is quite sane there should be a notice to some extent.




RE: Addiction is a funny thing
By Fenixgoon on 1/24/2007 9:45:19 AM , Rating: 2
blizzard is not liable for your lack of self-discipline and responsibility.

and sorry if you were being sarcastic, my detector is broken :P


RE: Addiction is a funny thing
By GrandMareg on 1/24/2007 10:24:35 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
blizzard is not liable for your lack of self-discipline and responsibility.


I never said they were.

It's the person playing the game (or the parents behind them) who should take all the blame concerning addiction to it. It doesn't mean that Blizzard isn't in a position to at least give notice to the weaker willed individuals who happen to be playing their game.


RE: Addiction is a funny thing
By Visual on 1/24/2007 10:26:02 AM , Rating: 3
A few of the game tip-of-the-day messages that show up during loading screens address this. One says something like "Remember to take everything in moderation, even WOW", another is "Bring your friends to Azeroth, but don't forget to go outside Azeroth with them too!" and they probably didn't mean Kalimdor.


RE: Addiction is a funny thing
By Akazar on 1/24/2007 10:58:05 AM , Rating: 2
I remember that wow commerical where the Girlfriend bought Wow for her boyfriend so he would leave her alone, instead of having sex with her all the time.

The funny part is my friend's wife saw the commericial and bought him the game for that same reason.


RE: Addiction is a funny thing
By rushfan2006 on 1/24/2007 4:45:18 PM , Rating: 2
For kids yeah its the parents responsibility to monitor not only what their child does on the computer but the quantity of time spent on it. I fully agree with you there.

But once you hit a certain age, let's call it 18 for argument's sake (and the fact by legal definition in many states you are considered an "adult" and can enter into legally binding contracts, etc.) the individual has to be fully responsible for their own actions.

Me personally from whatever time I start playing on any given week night I make sure I'm off by 10:30 and I set my cell phone alarm to remind me. So if I'm on at 9:30 it means I just get an hour in, if I'm on at 7:00 I allow 3 1/2 hours to play, etc.

Also my RL dictates my playtime, not the other way around. If I can't play a night...so be it.

However, if there is nothing to do - where normally folks would watch TV for the night -- I'll play games over watching TV almost all the time.



heh..
By Scabies on 1/24/2007 9:17:45 AM , Rating: 5
quote:
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 to play The Burning Crusade.


what the crap were the other 700,000 doing?
oh yeah, waiting in line for server handshakes.




RE: heh..
By Aikouka on 1/24/2007 11:51:57 AM , Rating: 2
Well, personally I was one of those 700,000... kind of. I'm one of those uber-dorky players with more than one account and I purchased a copy of the collector's edition for both. However, the second copy hasn't even been opened yet nor has the second account even been upgraded. I'd imagine that I'm not alone in this as I swear there are people dorkier than I ;)!

Also, logging in only refers to entering your username and password and attempting to connect to the server, it doesn't mean you actually got on to play ;).


By VooDooAddict on 1/24/2007 10:35:45 AM , Rating: 2
I know a few people who had canceled their accounts a while ago who bought BC. They still haven't started playing again ... they are waiting for a free weekend to start again.




By Naviblue on 1/24/2007 11:18:00 AM , Rating: 2
I've played for 2 years and quit, but I did buy BC to just try it out and honestly, it's just isn't as fun anymore. They should've introduced new classes or something.


EB Games
By Chadder007 on 1/24/2007 12:31:24 PM , Rating: 2
I bet my local EB Games store is reconsidering its decision to have pulled all of their PC games off the shelves....




RE: EB Games
By Aikouka on 1/24/2007 12:39:06 PM , Rating: 2
I think they may all be like that. I know my local EB Games and Gamestop both do not put games on the shelves. Rather they have a very disheveled rack for New and Used PC games. Also, new games typically have to be requested (when I bought R6V from EB Games, I had to ask for it).


idiots
By mobutu on 1/24/07, Rating: 0
RE: idiots
By rushfan2006 on 1/24/2007 4:39:24 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
We live in a world full of idiots ... they are making this possible.


....and the biggest idiot of them all is the one who originally posted the quote above. ;)

Seriously why are people idiots for buying a game en-masse or paying monthly fees to play a game -- because its a hobby you don't like and that's why?

Can't stand that mentality -- at least bitch about something relevant...like someone is an idiot because they drink and drive or someone is an idiot for abusing their kid...but for a past time that is legal, innocent and causes no harm to anyone? Get a life dude.


By chsh1ca on 1/25/2007 7:17:35 AM , Rating: 2
I'm not sure why you got negative reviews for your comments. I was going to make the same point -- that this shouldn't really count as a game, since it does require World of Warcraft to play. You can't walk into Wal-Mart and just pick up Burning Crusade, go home, and run it. Indeed, it's called "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade." Now, if it were a standalone expansion like WH40k:Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, it'd be different in my view.

That being said, I know on those official sales analysis reports they show you every Sims expansion as a separate 'game.'

What they do accounting-wise doesn't mean that I can't nit-pick this verbiage though! :)


By rushfan2006 on 1/25/2007 9:01:01 AM , Rating: 2
While I agree with you guys -- technically they should have not used the term "game" but "expansion pack" instead.

BUT on the other hand I roll my eyes at your comments and think "you have got to be shitting me".....just because wow...talk about being anal and nit-picky (to borrow one of your words)....come on its just semantics...the point is they sold a LOT of friggin copies of this "THING"!!! LOL.



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