Warcraft Expansion Moves 2.8M Copies in 24 Hours

Blizzard announced yesterday that its latest expansion pack to MMOG giant World of Warcraft, Wrath of the Lich King, had become the fastest-selling PC game of all time after selling 2.8 million copies in the first 24 hours of availability. That's up from previous expansion Burning Crusade's opening day sales of 2.4 million copies in January 2007. With Warcraft's 11 million subscribers and consistent high placement in the NPD's retail tracking reports, the numbers aren't too surprising. They're just worth noting as one example of the high demand for online, interactive, social entertainment.

"After a single day of availability, Wrath of the Lich King is already the bestselling PC game of 2008 at GameStop and ranks as one of our top-selling products so far this year," said Bob McKenzie, GameStop’s senior vice president of merchandising. "In keeping with the tradition established by their previous releases, Blizzard Entertainment has again created a product that not only reflects their high standards of quality but is clearly an instant hit with gamers around the country."