WOW: Lich King sells 2.8m in 24 hours

By Oli Welsh Published 20 November, 2008

It's the fastest-selling PC game ever.

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.

Lots of big numbers there, but as far as we're concerned, there's only one big number that matters.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • iokthemonkey #1 3 years ago

    Good work but I'd have expected a much bigger uptake. Not taking anything away from the game there. I just presumed everybody would be buying it.

  • Canyarion #2 3 years ago

    "so in terms of sell-through to subscribers, Lich King performed fractionally less well than its predecessor."

    I blame this on all the people with mutliple accounts. They don't buy more than WotLK... yet.

  • crozon #3 3 years ago

    well its about a fouth of all subscribers got it on the first day. Thats still a massive figure.

  • stevetuck #4 3 years ago

    hmm will the chinese clear naxx faster than 24thnovember :p

  • iokthemonkey #5 3 years ago

    I thought everybody in WoW was Level 70...

  • Canyarion #6 3 years ago

    I doubt any newcomers bought TBC on the first day... so I think Chinster's argument doesn't hold.

  • Mooks #7 3 years ago

    Assuming you have a level 55 the Death Knight is there to tempt people that don't have a lvl 70 yet so theres something for those at lvl cap and those much further behind.

  • iokthemonkey #8 3 years ago

    Joking aside, WoW's numbers have been rising recently, but even so, not by a huge percentage of the player base. I'm surprised everybody wasn't level 70 by the release of Lich King. I was about 56 when BC came out and had hit 70 about a year ago. I'm not even THAT hardcore a player really...

    Obviously not everybody does hit the dizzy heights of the endgame, but my *feeling* based on what a lot of players say is that people tend to buy WoW expansions, burn through 'em to the new level limit rapidly, then quit until the next expansion comes out. I have no evidence for that but that's what I pick up from others I've spoken to.

  • iokthemonkey #9 3 years ago

    Nothing there for 'new' players though.

    ----

    But this is the whole point. What "new" players? WoW's playerbase has grown, yes, but only by around, what, a quarter since the release of BC? Obviously, that's still MILLIONS of players, but what about the other, (rough estimate) 8 million players who've played since BC?

    I'm not taking anything away from Lich King. Selling 2million+ PC units is good work. I'm just saying I expected MORE.

  • Red-Moose #10 3 years ago

    what a bunch of retards.

  • Fusey #11 3 years ago

    @iokthemonkey

    So you telling me you think 2.8m copies in 24 hours isn't impressive?

    I hate to break it to you but not everyone will buy it on the first day.. shockingly enough I would imagine that the MAJORITY will wait until the 2nd or even the 3rd day to buy it!. Some people might even wait a whole week!

    Hard to believe I know but its true...
    Edited by 1 at 20/11/08 @ 16:28

  • iokthemonkey #12 3 years ago

    @iokthemonkey

    So you telling me you think 2.8m copies in 24 hours isn't impressive?

    ----

    No, I'm not saying that at all. I've said in my posts it's a great achievement. The point I'm making is that I expected MORE. Considering the popularity of WoW, "only" (read that as you will) about 1/4 of the subscribers have actually bought Lich King. I find that confusing considering the fact that WoW has such an ardent fanbase and I expected a bigger uptake.


  • Eraysor #13 3 years ago

    I'm quite surprised it wasn't more than that. Of course, not everyone can even reach a store on release day to buy it anyway.

  • MaxiSleep #14 3 years ago

    I had quite a lot of trouble finding a copy on launch day (Ireland) - found one misplaced in hmv thank god but game and Zappi was sold out, and Smiths had none delivered at all, so I would guess that did not help

    And FFS eurogamer whats with the damm pop up on the mine of moria doing overwriting the edit screen!

  • darc #15 3 years ago

    Blizzard does such amazing work, I wish they would do something non-MMO, or at the very least something aimed at newcomers. I'd love to see what they've accomplished here, but there's just no way I'm grining back into WOW. No time.

  • dingo75 #16 3 years ago

    Very well deserved Blizzard!

    My UK CE came from Ebay (well the code. The box is still on its way) since it was not possible to pre-order anywhere.
    Playing since Monday evening and damn that addon rocks so hard.
    I hit 72 yesterday and wow so far it was a hell of a ride (first zone cleared)!
    Guildies further along say there is tons to look forward to (someone said that the "Wrathgate questline" is worth the addon price alone) so I'm really happy to know there is more in store for me. :)

    A lot of people are already 80 and yesterday Saphiron fell in heroic mode (to ally though boo!).
    This is another small but very cool new thing: Realm wide first kill annoucements. Will really push guild competition to new levels on our server I assume hehe.

    We managed to get some old guildies from a guild that started when the server went live back together. With the 10 man instances raids will rock since these people are really, really good, mature and able. No need to pick up new blood to fill spaces like back in 40 man raiding. I see a lot of fun for us in the coming months. :)

  • Cadence #17 3 years ago

    LOL Red Moose. Don't know why but that really made me laugh.

  • Canyarion #18 3 years ago

    @ Chinster
    "TBC had two new races and two new starting zones and I know plenty of folk who were new to the game who chose that point in time to jump in."

    Within 24 hours of release? Wow. For a game you play the first time...

    Never mind. I still think it's because of the multiple accounts people have. Especially after the 'recruit a friend' promotion!

  • Gearskin #19 3 years ago

    NUMBERS!

  • Bumhug360 #20 3 years ago

    "No, I'm not saying that at all. I've said in my posts it's a great achievement. The point I'm making is that I expected MORE. Considering the popularity of WoW, "only" (read that as you will) about 1/4 of the subscribers have actually bought Lich King. I find that confusing considering the fact that WoW has such an ardent fanbase and I expected a bigger uptake. "

    In figures for the first 24 hours dont include south east asia and china, and as those markets make up more than half the total subscriber base it explains why it wasnt a bigger uptake.

  • Emortal #21 3 years ago

    Question, if my highest char is lvl 40, should I get this? :)

  • dingo75 #22 3 years ago

    @Emortal

    Not until you are 55 with a char and being able to create a Deathknight.
    With them going to 80 seems to be a cakewalk then (didn't create one myself yet since I'm busy getting my rogue up first).
    DKs are leveling faster than anything else right now and there will be probably some nerfs later once there are enough 80s running around.

  • iokthemonkey #23 3 years ago

    In figures for the first 24 hours dont include south east asia and china, and as those markets make up more than half the total subscriber base it explains why it wasnt a bigger uptake.

    ----

    Ah, I didn't know that. Well in that case, it's closer to 1/2 of Western subscribers. I'm still surprised though. I honestly expected every single WoW player to have picked it up at launch. But stilll 2.8 million units on PC is bloody good.
    Edited by 1 at 21/11/08 @ 09:34

  • Roxette #24 3 years ago

    Good things are never popular, but bad things are! Thats the history, present and future of the human race.