You wanna see wrath?! Lich King sells 2.8 million copies in 24 hours

by Alexander Sliwinski { Nov 20th 2008 at 12:20PM }

Blizzard announced today that World of Warcraft's second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, sold a paltry 2.8 million units in its first 24 hours. That's only 400,000 more units than Burning Crusade did on its launch day. We're guessing Activision is completely regretting that whole merger now, huh?

With 11 million players currently in Azeroth, that means about 25% of the base couldn't live without their precious expansion for more than 24 hours, saying nothing of the millions who bought it later. In other news, there are rumors that the Drug Enforcement Administration is looking to bring electronic software under its purview. Not really, but we really are waiting for WoW to be classified as a controlled substance.

[Via WoW Insider]

Tags: activision, activision-blizzard, blizzard, world-of-warcraft, wow, wrath-of-the-lich-king

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Huey2k2 @ Nov 20th 2008 12:32PM

Holy shitcakes.

Delgado @ Nov 20th 2008 12:38PM

Cakes. Of shit.

Chris Are @ Nov 20th 2008 12:40PM

Holy lichcakes!

Negativecool @ Nov 20th 2008 12:46PM

Holy shitlich!

Chris Are @ Nov 20th 2008 1:05PM

Damnit! Shitlich sounds way better than lichcakes!

Courtney @ Nov 20th 2008 12:39PM

Holy crackhead Batman!

The Dark Wayne @ Nov 20th 2008 1:44PM

I AM NOT

Biff_McFresh @ Nov 20th 2008 3:15PM

Holy GHBhead batman?

Negativecool @ Nov 20th 2008 12:44PM

So...

Is this the "????" stage or the "$$$$$" stage of the successful video game economics model?

&rew @ Nov 20th 2008 12:45PM

Congrats Blizzard, you made 2.8 million souls on the first day.

FluxWaveZ @ Nov 20th 2008 12:57PM

Each copy of Wrath of the Lich King doesn't sell for 1 dollar.

Negativecool @ Nov 20th 2008 1:02PM

The currency he was referring to was people(as in their souls), not dollars.

Delgado @ Nov 20th 2008 1:02PM

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!
/FluxWaveZ's Head\

Noshino @ Nov 20th 2008 1:11PM

I think what he meant is that souls are worth less than a dollar, which means that I got deal for mine, 20 bucks and a Subway Footlong Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki

Saneless @ Nov 20th 2008 12:56PM

Wow, that's a lot of guys, about 2.79 million, I'm jealous of: No girlfriend to nag you about playing games.

FluxWaveZ @ Nov 20th 2008 12:58PM

Never mind, I had read 2.8 million dollars.

Aldo @ Nov 20th 2008 12:59PM

If they sell it at 40 bucks, then it would be 40 x 2,800,000 = 112,000,000 million dollars in 24 hours.

Haggard @ Nov 20th 2008 1:45PM

That's total income though. You've gotta factor in development costs, server hosting for testing and general game upkeep, as well as customer service.

So $110,000,000 profits, then :P

CJLopez @ Nov 20th 2008 1:00PM

Given the install base of WoW, i was expecting this number to be 3 times bigger, so i'm not that ammused of this number really

Delgado @ Nov 20th 2008 1:05PM

TWENTY FIVE PERCENT of a user install base buying the game within TWENTY FOUR HOURS doesn't impress you?

What the hell does?

PS: You realize the number being three times bigger would have been 75% of people who WOULD buy the game, all buying it in 24 hours, right?

tmacairjordan87 @ Nov 20th 2008 1:22PM

The game shipped everywhere in the world within like 4 days of the release, so the game probably wasn't even in 50% of wow's user base yet when the 2.8 million was recorded.

Maverick Saturn @ Nov 20th 2008 1:03PM

News just in, Blizzard sends profits made to africa and saves many childrenses only to consume thier souls by putting them in front of a computer with WoW

F1 @ Nov 20th 2008 4:21PM

OH GOD!!! SOMEONE GO CHECK ON LUDWIG!!!!

Kevin @ Nov 20th 2008 1:08PM

Totally expected this to happen. It's like finding a better version of crack and giving people a time, date, and location to get it. All the addicts will hop on that shit.

jojo29 @ Nov 20th 2008 1:18PM

@CJLopez: "Given the install base of WoW, i was expecting this number to be 3 times bigger, so i'm not that ammused of this number really"

Name any other SINGLE game that has 11 MILLION PEOPLE active everyday, paying $15 dollars a month to play...exactly. And remember, this is just the first 24 hours for JUST an EXPANSION, not even the core game..

Maverick Saturn @ Nov 20th 2008 1:20PM

So what you're saying is Blizzard can buy Europe now?

Noshino @ Nov 20th 2008 1:34PM

Nah, only France and Spain, for now...

The Dark Wayne @ Nov 20th 2008 1:46PM

well they can at least buy sweden and switzerland WHOSE POPULATIONS WOW PLAYERS OUTNUMBER BY SEVERAL MILLION

Blazur @ Nov 20th 2008 1:32PM

Good. That ought to give them the extra budget they need to expedite StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3. I wanna enjoy these games sometime in the next 5 years while I still have time, dammit!

Ethan @ Nov 20th 2008 1:42PM

Never played it, but I'd like to say I was disappointed that hoard vs alliance battles did not break out in the queues.

Josh @ Nov 20th 2008 1:43PM

Is this the fastest selling video game (in 24 hours) ever?

If not, I'm a little scared of what *is*. O.O

Blank-Mage @ Nov 20th 2008 3:03PM

God, I hate this game. Not that I hate it per se, but does it seriously warrant this kind of following? It's ridiculous!

(call me when D3 hits shelves, D2 was a game I could respect.)

SlimPickinz96 @ Nov 20th 2008 4:11PM

Hehehehe

Yeh mage honestly i wish it wasnt SO popular amongst the MMO...
For every forum thread i read, where someone cried at how bad the game is becoming and how they'd never return, warmed my heart.

Come launch night, you log in after work, you're all of a sudden put in queue to join your server. Albeit a low population sever. "#275 in line to play (WoW), estimated time 15 minutes..."

This game is amazing! I'm not surprised it sold so much the first day. There were people camping out for days just to get the game and have it signed by the developers. It's a great day for PC gamers. There's also this new in game web browser that you can download, and play WOW without interruption, check it out here http://news.gotgame.com/gotgame-launches-rogue-the-first-in-game-web-browser/20071/