Wrath sells 2.8 million in the first 24 hours
by Mike Schramm 
Nov 20th 2008 at 11:25AM
We knew it was going to be a lot, but I think the game outsold even our expectations: Blizzard has announced that the game's second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, sold 2.8 million copies worldwide in the first 24 hours, and undoubtedly many more in the weekend after that (we're expecting an announcement later this month around five million in the first 30 days). That makes the game the fastest selling PC game of all time, and by far the fastest-selling expansion of all time (remember that this isn't even a complete game that's flying off the shelves). The previous record, of course, was set by the Burning Crusade, which sold 2.4 million copies during launch.Pretty huge, but when you consider that the game has 11 million subscribers around the world, those numbers are just about right. Looks like Morhaime is on to something -- as long as they have players ready to buy the game in numbers like this, Blizzard will undoubtedly release expansions as long as they can.
Thanks, Doug!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Economy, Making money, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
king0lag Nov 20th 2008 11:36AM
I wonder how many millions of these purchases went to gold farmers :P
Vorgaak Nov 21st 2008 4:41AM
I think wowinsider should just go ahead and delete troll posts if they are the first comment
Dillon Nov 20th 2008 11:42AM
Well deserved - Wrath is pretty incredible, and if it wasn't for Left 4 Dead, I would have spent consecutive nights playing since the midnight release :p
jake Nov 20th 2008 11:43AM
2.8 million in the first 24 hours?!?! that is insane. and when you do the math at only 50 dollars a copy (not counting collectors editions which were around 70) they made approximately 140 million dollars in those first 24 hours.
SB Nov 20th 2008 11:57AM
The game costs $40 a copy, which is still a large sum of 112mil in one day.
Trev Nov 20th 2008 5:45PM
Only in the US. Overseas copies (like in China) are considerably cheaper I believe.
Still a heck of a pile of gold!
redstar Nov 20th 2008 12:03PM
um, wasn't there an article on this site the other day that said cod5 outsold lich king by 2: 1?
:)
dreamparacite Nov 20th 2008 12:10PM
In BRITAIN. :3
Sumanai Nov 20th 2008 12:11PM
COD outsold WotLK in the weekly sales.
WotLK outsold everyone in 24h sales.
Will Nov 20th 2008 12:05PM
Glad to hear how well Wrath sold at launch, I enjoy playing WoW and if blizzard continues to keep up with this level of value in the game they can expect to see such high sales and we can continue to get our expansions :)
Mark Nov 20th 2008 12:07PM
over $100 million in 24 hours! not to shabby.. But Blizzard really deserves kudos for this, I am enjoying Northrend much more than Outland, it is like being back to my first level 1 char again - the game is fun.
Dranaerys Nov 20th 2008 12:16PM
I was kinda especting em to break the 3 mill brarrion but I guess we will ahve to wait for expansion 3 for that. :) An yes, I was one of the 2.8 million, started playing a few hours before midnight as soon as the ships started flying to northrend. :p
Wes Nov 20th 2008 12:23PM
After Northrend...Emerald Dream, here we come! :-)
(Thats my guess!)
Szord Nov 20th 2008 1:24PM
"which sold 2.4 million copies during launch"
Heh, I first read that as "2.4M copies during lunch"
Lemons Nov 20th 2008 2:43PM
Yup, lunch is when most video game sales occur. People get hungry and they buy video games... it's just physics really.
Angelyne Nov 20th 2008 1:33PM
Guess that would explain the 1000+ queues that most high population servers are experiencing, during peak hours. Definitively a victim of their own success.
elvendude Nov 20th 2008 1:43PM
$111,972,000.
112 million dollars in 24 hours.
Geoff Nov 20th 2008 5:11PM
Has the expansion even launched in China yet? Keep in mind that 11 million is world wide but it took months before china got BC
Axolotl Nov 21st 2008 1:48AM
The store I went to for the midnight release sold out the non-pre-ordered ones in about 20 minutes, too bad they didn't have CE
LOL@WoW Nov 21st 2008 3:28AM
Gimme a break... When you've got an already installed fanbase of millions of subscribers it is no surprise that 2.8 million of those subscribers would want to buy the expansion...