WoW's Burning Crusade sells 3.5 million
by John Bardinelli 
{ Mar 7th 2007 at 12:55PM }
Released in Europe, Canada, and the United States on January 16, World of Warcraft expansion pack The Burning Crusade has topped the 3.5 million sales mark. That's one copy for every man, woman, and child in Casablanca and is half a million more than the population of Armenia. Over 2.4 million of those sales took place on release day alone. Nearly 8.5 million people in the world (and it's safe to assume the galaxy) are subscribed to the MMORPG, and it shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.Blizzard officials were unavailable for comment, but were spotted sunning on their private yachts, Speedos stuffed with cash.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Geo @ Mar 7th 2007 12:59PM
That`s way PC is the King.....
Geo @ Mar 7th 2007 1:04PM
I meant "Tha`s why PC is the King" not way....
Geo @ Mar 7th 2007 1:06PM
!WTF..? ANYWAY......
Vidikron @ Mar 7th 2007 1:09PM
It's king because everyone is playing one game?
Sean @ Mar 7th 2007 1:23PM
Seriously.. that's why PC gaming is all but dead.
roma @ Mar 7th 2007 1:25PM
Because of many of the million of people playing PC games on their homes, even more than Playstation 2/3 and Xbox360 together....
Myke @ Mar 7th 2007 1:26PM
Ok, I've often thought about this, now let me see how you all feel about this. First off, I KNOW it would never happen and there's no concievable way that any company would ever do this and blah blah blah, so don't lecture me on how unlikely the following question is, I already know.
What would happen if Blizzard (or whoever is in charge) suddenly went bankrupt, and had to close the servers permanently, giving no right away and effectivly killing WoW? I honestly believe that this game has gotten to the point where internet flaming and hate mail wouldnt be sufficient and there might be massive nerd riots the world over. Any opinions?
Ken @ Mar 7th 2007 1:27PM
I played WoW for about 2 years (from BETA) and it really has ruined the PC game market.
Now EVERYONE and their grandmothers is trying to get a piece of the action.
I just recently quit wow (for the 4th or 5th time). I'm tempted to sell my account so I never go back. The game is SO stagnant. Nothing changing or evolving in the game. And I hate that...
At least in DAoC you had the frontiers to protect.
ssuk @ Mar 7th 2007 1:27PM
It's a sad day for socioty, 3.5 million souls it has lost. =(
roma @ Mar 7th 2007 1:31PM
Oh yeah you wish to see PC gaming death, but never will happen.....
Jonathan Tran @ Mar 7th 2007 1:37PM
meh. play Guild Wars. this is more like World of Borecraft
raquor @ Mar 7th 2007 1:37PM
I have to agree with #8(Ken) I quit about 5 months ago because I hit 60 and...it just got too repetitive. I want an MMO that's actually dynamic. Not a Co-op single player game.
Don't get me wrong...WoW is leaps and bounds ahead of EQ but it just isn't there yet. These games should have monthly changes. Things players do should have an effect on the world. Yes that means having a larger staff but if designed properly it would be little more than mods.
Better yet...allow the community to submit mods and if you accept/approve them then keep that person's info on file so you can look at their next submission quicker. These things are largely based on scripting languages anyway.
Denney @ Mar 7th 2007 1:54PM
WOW is a good game im still playing it thses days but i think FPS and racing games are more fun to play. WOW has too many noobs and if your not in a good guild then not much point.
Chris Gardner @ Mar 7th 2007 1:59PM
Is there a reason that every time - EVERY time - a Wow article gets posted on Joystiq the console nerds immediately rush in to try to belittle the game?
Wow is an excellent game. It's a successful game. 8 million plus people agree with me. Deal with it.
Just the same, playing Wow doesn't preempt me from playing my Xbox 360, Wii or PS3. It doesn't take away my time messing around with Wii Sports with my friends. It doesn't affect my Gears of War cooperative matches. And it sure as hell doesn't force me to live a darkened basement.
There is a small group of people that take this game way too seriously. Some live in basements. They're the minority. The rest of us enjoy it and realize it's one of (if not the best) RPG of all time. RPG, not MMO. Again, if you have a problem with people enjoying a great game, deal with it.
Ken @ Mar 7th 2007 3:11PM
@ Chris Gardner
Then you're one of the very few. I know for a fact that I personally have misguided my attention to World of Warcraft. I have over 30 games for my PS2/360/Wii that I had sitting on my shelf (Unopened!) because of WoW. I figure "I'm paying for WoW now, so I guess I have to play". And, after as long as I played it, it became a chore for me to play. Which is why I quit it... so many times.
And WoW is in NO way a great RPG. It's an MMO. That's where it belongs. How many people know the story to World of Warcraft? Maybe 2, and they're they ones that wrote the "story" to WoW. An MMO needs no story, so WoW didn't make one. They tried, but it falls apart after lvl 10ish. (Tries to pick up again at lvl 60... for your class stuff).
I'm not saying it's a crappy game, because it's not. I just think that the game is way too repetitive. Nothing in the game changes. Luckily enough, they redo class talent at random times, or else it would be completely stale.
I think it's popular because: it's easy to play (anyone... including my girlfriend can play it) and it runs on everyone's PC. Its similar to CS for the PC.
I've had alot of my friends completely ditch us for WoW. I'll invite them over and they wont do it because they have a raid or something on WoW to do. And that's what really irks me about the game. Now granted, it isn't WoW's fault... I just like to blame it.
But then again, do we blame the people that smoke cigarettes? Or do we blame the companies that make them? :P hehe... completely different scenario, I know... just odd to think about.
Derbeste @ Mar 7th 2007 4:07PM
Grats Ken.
You need to spent $50-100 a month to entertain yourself....
I spend $12.95.
If people find WoW fun, your opinion of it means exactly....dick.
Chris is HARDLY one of the "few" if 8.5 million CURRENT subsribers are playing it.
Seriously...you're just bitter and you even admit that.
Now please....just shoo home to your own market and demographic. You clearly don't belong in ours.
MeLeNaS @ Mar 8th 2007 3:39AM
@ Ken (comment #15): I guess that when you say "anyone... including my girlfriend can play it" you're referring solely to your girlfriend... right?
Because being a girl doesn't mean you necessarily have to play silly Barbie games, and of course play them only on pink devices. Being a girl doesn't mean you cannot go one step ahead of colorful puzzles and play something more "complicated" that involves using the keyboard and the mouse at the same time. I'm a girl and I love playing FPSs and RPGs, and of course, I love playing WoW.
Sorry if I sound rude, I'm just so tired of this cliché. Maybe I'm just different from the other female gamers... anyway, WoW is a great game. For girls too! :)
Malfoy Roark @ Mar 8th 2007 10:25AM
Re: 17
Yes, you are different than other girl gamers. If every other 'girl gamer' was just like you, there wouldn't be so much wasted space about "why aren't girls playing games?" and people complaining that games need to be more 'targeted at girls'.
And I'm sorry if you're tired of the cliche, but its not a cliche, its true. Those people with too much time on their hands have already shown majority of women who are playing games arent playing FPS or RTS, they are playing those other genres that ARGUABLY arent gender bias or whatever.
And lastly : "of course, I love playing WoW". You just reinforced Ken's (#15's) point. When the majority of girl gamers are saying the same about every other top title (The UTs, CSs, R6s, CCs, WCs, etc) Ken's point will have lost its point and will be nothing more than a cliche.
Until then, don't hate the cliche, hate the majority of girl gamers who make the cliche so.
Oh and Asians are too good at video games. =0 (Puts on flame resistant suit)