As if Blizzard wasn’t already making enough money, the third expansion to their wildly successful MMORPG franchise, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, has just become the fastest-selling PC game of all time. At this rate, it’s on track to break the best-selling record too. Watch out, other-Blizzard-game, here WoW comes!
What does Blizzard have to say for itself and its incredible success? Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard, said, "We had to bring Azeroth to the brink of destruction in Cataclysm, but the result was our best expansion yet. We want to thank all of our new, existing, and returning players throughout the world for their incredible enthusiasm and support, and we look forward to hearing what they think about all the new content."
According to GameStop, Cataclysm even outsold StarCraft 2 for day one sales. Oh, and there were at least 12 million subscribed WoW players before any of this even happened.
So congratulations to Activision/Blizzard for their continued success, and if you want to read more, check out the full press release below.
IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft®: CataclysmTM, the third expansion for the critically acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), sold through more than 3.3 million copies as of its first 24 hours of release, making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time.* This milestone eclipses the previous record of more than 2.8 million copies sold in 24 hours, set in November 2008 by Blizzard’s second World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King®.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm was simultaneously released in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Europe, Russia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand on December 7, and became available in Korea and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on December 9. More than 10,000 stores throughout the world opened their doors at midnight to welcome players who wanted to be among the first to obtain a copy of the expansion. In addition, approximately 15,000 players attended official launch events hosted by Blizzard and key retail partners in the US, Canada, France, Germany, Russia, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, and the region of Taiwan.
"We had to bring Azeroth to the brink of destruction in Cataclysm, but the result was our best expansion yet," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We want to thank all of our new, existing, and returning players throughout the world for their incredible enthusiasm and support, and we look forward to hearing what they think about all the new content."
"World of Warcraft: Cataclysm delivered even bigger day-one sales than we experienced with StarCraft® II: Wings of LibertyTM in July," said Bob McKenzie, senior vice president of merchandising at GameStop, "making this a record year for Blizzard Entertainment at GameStop."
Prior to the launch of Cataclysm, World of Warcraft’s subscriber population had grown to more than 12 million players globally, further strengthening the game’s position as the world’s most popular subscription-based MMORPG. More information about the new expansion can be found at the official Cataclysm website: http:/www.blizzard.com/games/cataclysm/.
To keep pace with the continued growth of World of Warcraft as well as development on other Blizzard Entertainment® games, the company is currently hiring for numerous open positions. More information on career opportunities available at Blizzard Entertainment can be found at www.blizzard.com/jobs.
*Based on internal company records and reports from key distribution partners. Includes digital pre-sales.
