Cataclysm sales are wow

By Robert Purchese Published 13 December, 2010

Blizzard does a Deathwing on record books.

The third World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm, is the world's fastest-selling PC game.

In 24 hours Cataclysm sold 3.3 million copies worldwide, on Mac and PC.

Compare that to the world's fastest selling multi-platform game Call of Duty: Black Ops, which sold 5.7 million copies in 24 hours, and Blizzard's achievement speaks for itself.

The second World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, had been the world's fastest selling PC game with a day-one tally of 2.8 million sales.

A staggering simultaneous worldwide launch for Cataclysm helped Blizzard make the record possible. Cataclysm hit shelves in United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Europe, Russia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand on 7th December, and then in Korea and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on 9th December.

"We had to bring Azeroth to the brink of destruction in Cataclysm, but the result was our best expansion yet," commented Mike Morhaime, the man who made Blizzard.

"We want to thank all of our new, existing, and returning players throughout the world for their incredible enthusiasm and support, and we look forward to hearing what they think about all the new content."

Will the next World of Warcraft expansion, said to be smaller and therefore quicker to develop, repeat the cycle and smash Cataclysm's record?

More pertinently, what on earth can topple World of Warcraft? Eurogamer asked Blizzard peers and analysts the very same question to make for some intriguing results.

He's so hot right now.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (18) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Serai #1 1 year ago

    To be expected I guess. Getting mine after all my finals are done

  • EmiliasHorse #2 1 year ago

    Bought and paid for, love it.

  • r4z0rbl4d3 #3 1 year ago

    Well, since a huge number of players have not one but several accounts and therefore bought a copy for every account, not all of the buyers are unique so I still find the Black Ops numbers more impressive tbh.

  • Benno #4 1 year ago

    who has more than one account? and why? (apart from botters)

  • Eraysor #5 1 year ago

    I doubt the number of players with multiple accounts is "huge", and you could apply the same logic to sales of many things (people wanting a game for multiple consoles, buying it as a gift etc.). Either way, they have made the same amount of money (and thoroughly deserve to, in my opinion.)

  • alimokrane #6 1 year ago

    Oh my GOD!

  • dudefella #7 1 year ago

    Yeah I doubt more than 0.1% bought the game more than once for several accounts. Very impressive numbers, and deservedly so, Cataclysm is a gargantuan achievement in scope.

  • Apaar #8 1 year ago

    Well deserved! Without a doubt, this has to be my personal GOTY. Utterly wonderful game! :)

  • Ryboy #9 1 year ago

    PC gaming is dead, apparently...

  • EmiliasHorse #10 1 year ago

    I play WoW on home and laptop PC... from the same account, no idea why I would want to buy a second account when I can only log on to one at a time.

    Baffled

  • kangarootoo #11 1 year ago

    @r4z0rbl4d3

    Translation.

    "I prefer Black Ops, so I still find the Black Ops numbers more impressive tbh."

  • Katanax #12 1 year ago

    How did GT5 do in the first 24 hours?

    Interested to see how another hyped single-platform title performed on day one. (Understanding variables such as install base have their place).

  • StolenGlory #13 1 year ago

    "Well, since a huge number of players have not one but several accounts and therefore bought a copy for every account, not all of the buyers are unique so I still find the Black Ops numbers more impressive tbh."

    A huge number of players? Where the fuck do you get your facts from? Oh and also even with a fraction of non 'unique' buyers the combined retail and digital distributable figures would still slaughter Black Ops.

    The fact that you are basing your argument on is a fallacy.

  • crozon #14 1 year ago

    I hate world of warcraft, don't ask why never played it........and those sales figures are WOW.
    Good going, now can i have the next chapter of starcraft 2 and diablo 3 please.

  • Milkman1 #15 1 year ago

    I doubt huge number of players have bought game several times. Even if that would be true i dont see how it would make sales less impressive.

  • shatulance #16 1 year ago

    It's not a game it's an expansion.

  • Stop-gap #17 1 year ago

    @r4z0rbl4d3
    Right, it's less impressive that people want to play it so much they'll pay double (or even more, I take it people still multibox) to be logged in to several accounts at once.

    @Katanax
    I don't think there's day 1 figures for GT world wide. Week 1 in the US was 400k, apparently world figures are 5.5mil as of the end of last week (according to a quick google search).

  • ircaddicts #18 1 year ago

    of course blizzard has NEVER lied about sub numbers or sales before now has it..... Oh wait yes it has and it does it ALL THE TIME