If the streets seems remarkably clear of pedestrian traffic and loiterers the last few days, we may have found the reason:. Blizzard Entertainment reports that World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich Kin sold more than 2.8 million copies during its first 24 hours of availability, making it the fastest-selling PC game to date.
Many of those sales were fulfillments of pre-orders stemming from months of anticipatory hype surrounding the title, but also owes to the game’s simultaneous launch in North America, Europea, Russia, Chile, and Argentina, with additional international releases following closely on their heels. More than 15,000 retailers in the U.S. opened their doors at midnight to let players get their copies; Blizzard employees were onhand at several locations.
“We’re grateful for the incredible support that players around the world have continued to show for World of Warcraft,” said Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime, in a release “Wrath of the Lich King contains some of the best content we’ve created for the game so far, and we look forward to seeing even more players log in to experience it in the days ahead.”
Blizzard says World of Warcraft now boasts over 11 million players, putting it pretty at the top of the heap of MMORPGs.
Oh, and the previous record for first day sales of a PC game? That was set back in January 2007 with a total of 2.4 million copies…by Blizzard’s first WOW expansion, The Burning Crusade.
