WoW expansion smashes day-1 video game sales record

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. on Tuesday announced that World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, the first expansion set for popular ‘World of Warcraft’ multiplayer game has smashed the first-day video game sales record with a worldwide total of nearly 2.4 million copies sold in the first 24 hours of availability.

The exciting new expansion of Blizzard's award-winning subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) was simultaneously released in North America, Europe, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia on January 16, with Australia and New Zealand following on January 17.

According to the Irvine, CA based Blizzard, during the first 24-hour period gamers purchased an average of 100,000 copies per hour. An estimated total of nearly 1.2 million copies were sold on the first day in North America, which is nearly half of overall sales, and an estimated total of another 1.1 million copies were sold in Europe, Blizzard said.

By the end of the day on both continents, there were more than 1.7 million players logged on and playing on their newly upgraded accounts. 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 and upgraded World of Warcraft 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.”

Blizzard had supplied more than 4 million game boxes to retailers worldwide, and more than 5,000 stores throughout the world had their doors open at midnight in order to fulfill demand for the game as soon as possible. Most of the retailers sold the gaming units instantly and still reporting strong demand.

Currently, the original WoW, which has achieved a new subscriber milestone, with more than 8 million gamers around the world, is selling for a suggested retail price of $19.99, while its expansion, which has received a Teen rating from the ESRB, is available at a suggested retail price of $39.99 for Windows 2000/XP and Macintosh.

The Burning Crusade’s other version, collector's edition, is priced at $69.99.

The collector's edition comprises some extra features like the WoW card game, the soundtrack CD, the game DVD as well as the CDs, a book of WoW artwork, a mouse pad, and even a very special pet, a Netherwhelp dragon, and an exclusive look into behind the scenes of the expansion development.

Blizzard, the premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating many of the industry's most critically acclaimed games, assures the players without a copy, that it will soon fulfill their demand. Additional shipments of the expansion have already been routed to retailers, the company said.