Lich King claims 2.8M souls in 24 hours

Second World of Warcraft expansion officially fastest-selling PC title of all time following beyond-brisk day-one sales.

As only the second expansion to an 11 million-player massively multiplayer game, there was little doubt that World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King would sell well. Today, developer-publisher Blizzard Entertainment told the world exactly how well, announcing the add-on had sold a staggering 2.8 million copies in its first 24 hours on the market. GameStop reported that the expansion is already their top-selling PC title of 2008. Although currency fluctuations and discounts prevent an accurate estimation of the expansion's exact take, 2.8 million units at the US price point of $39.99 stacks up to nearly $108 million.

The last known whereabouts of many WOW players.

Wrath of the Lich King's launch was heralded by 15,000 midnight launch events worldwide. Whether they were in the US, UK, or Australia, all events were mobbed by fans whipped into a frenzy by a steady drumbeat of hype. The fact that it has been nearly two years since the first WOW expansion, The Burning Crusade, also played a large part. That game, too, shattered records when it sold 2.4 million copies in the 24 hours after its launch on January 17, 2007, back when WOW only had 8 million subscribers.

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King will raise the level cap to 80 and will add new abilities and talents to all classes. It also introduces the Death Knight hero class and a new profession--inscription--that will let players permanently enhance spells and abilities. The expansion also adds new character-customization options, as well as a massive new realm, Northrend. For more details on the game, check out GameSpot's previous coverage, and check back soon for a full review.

145 Comments

  • Decrate

    Posted Dec 11, 2008 5:22 pm PT

    KEK, thats a lot of sales! BUR!

  • LewyDeng2

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 5:24 pm PT

    needless to say it can be difficult even for casual players to control urges.

  • samuro88401

    Posted Dec 2, 2008 6:51 am PT

    I agree with Master_chief, the stereotype of the WoW player being addicted and playing all the time and never leaving his house, failing all his classes and never exercising . . . . Such BS! i play casually, my friends and i play all the time together and we still, leave our houses and go have lives, we exercise regularly, and we are passing all of our classes because we can control ourselves when it comes to playing a game. its true that some people lose control, and that's too bad because those people now give other players a terrible reputation. besides, the people who are "addicted" most likely have other psychological problems. to all who say WoW should be banned . . . perhaps you should find better things to be doing in your so called life than complaining about something that doesn't affect you and any way what so ever. Blizzard Entertainment is the best game developer in the world in my opinion, all of there games are great.

  • Master_Chief_14

    Posted Nov 30, 2008 4:20 pm PT

    alistair_rags, I play world of warcraft, and i'm not addicted to it. I believe this is a matter of self control. For example, people die because of smoking, but cigarettes aren't banned from stores. Now i don't want wow banned because little kids have an "obsession".

  • BlackKnightOfH8

    Posted Nov 26, 2008 12:57 am PT

    Sorry spacer69, it won't happen. An I say that because of how console games/gamers work. Gears of War 2 just came out for 360. It's hot right now and everyone is playing it. But, 1-2 months from now...maybe even less(Left 4 Dead) Gears of War 2 will be dead online because the next "hot" console game has come out. An constantly having to shell out 50+ bucks for the next hot game every other month just gets tiring.

  • bigbosslives67

    Posted Nov 23, 2008 6:41 pm PT

    wow is too addicting

  • tudyniuz

    Posted Nov 23, 2008 9:52 am PT

    that's a lot

  • OmegaCookie7

    Posted Nov 22, 2008 8:51 pm PT

    I can't understand the appeal of this game. I just didn't find it fun, and I levelled my way to 90 on Runescape.

  • Tescas

    Posted Nov 22, 2008 8:32 am PT

    In that case EVERY game is a disease.. lets banish all games because there were kids that killed friends because they did what that guy on mortal kombat does...

    Every movies are diseases... lets banish movies and tv... because there was a kid that saw robocop and killed his father...

    etc...


    And please tell me the difference between playing the same game 3 hours/day or play 10 different ones the same 3 hours/day?

    Wow players are addicted to one game.. the others are addicted to whatever game is fashion on that given momment..

    dont be hypocrit... if you are in a games site its because you love games...

  • dsa0224

    Posted Nov 22, 2008 4:39 am PT

    its very sad when people do stupid crap because " OMG, i can kill a cab driver like in GTA4, let me try it in real life" people like that give gamers a bad name

  • Fabuloso

    Posted Nov 22, 2008 4:20 am PT

    I agree with you alistair_rags, I really do, but still I play this game every day.. Paradoxia, hehe

  • alistair_rags posted Nov 22, 2008 4:15 am PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    alistair_rags

    Posted Nov 22, 2008 4:15 am PT (hide)

    The creators of this game have just gone over the top, they have created a game that takes advantage of little kids and draws them in and they can't stop playing it. I hate this game and people take it too seriously. This game should be banned for the good of humanity.

  • merlin19783

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 11:05 pm PT

    Look guys at the end of the day people make choices and do what they see as best. At the moment this is the biggest (I'm not saying best here) game in the world and lots of people do love playing it. On the scale of how much people play your bound to get people on the silly end who literally lock them selves away and play 24/7, yes crazy I agree but Human beings are doing crazy all across the planet as you can see via the news/youtube etc. I know someone who had a blood clot and died because he played this game too much, very sad yes but at the end of the day you can't stop people doing what they want to do. Live and let live I say and if you don't like the game then don't play it Peace

  • dsa0224 posted Nov 21, 2008 5:20 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    dsa0224

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 5:20 pm PT (hide)

    WoW players who cant understand three simple words: GET A LIFE!!!!!!

    games are no longer fun or acceptable when it becomes an obsession

  • trenno2529

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 4:51 pm PT

    crazy

  • cyborg100000

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 2:21 pm PT

    How can you not have time to play this game? It's not like you HAVE to spend even 4 hours a day to catch up to the end game now. This is damned casual friendly MMO now so I really don't see why this will take away your life.

  • lucfonzy posted Nov 21, 2008 11:56 am PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    lucfonzy

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 11:56 am PT (hide)

    "There has already been one death of some idiot playing the game non stop, these freaks give games a bad name."

    Anyone remember manhunt?
    Some kid killed his friend after playing that game. What about GTA4? some kid killed a cab driver after playing that game. Pfft

  • BloodMist

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 11:29 am PT

    *rolls eyes* Yeah it's common knowledge that that's a stereotype, unless you're omniscient and actually do know what everyone on the entire planet is doing at all times of the day.Which of course, you don't.

  • LewyDeng2

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 10:46 am PT

    @BILLNYE6983: well there are a hell of a lot FEWER people who play CoD4 all day than there is WoW. And even if some1 does play cod 4 all day, there probably not doing that every day, where as in WoW u have millions of people who play all day ever day, not the same case in CoD4 or ANY other game for that matter. Its not stereotyping, its common knowledge.

  • TheMadmage

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 10:35 am PT

    Hvac, the 10 million figure is not exactly what you think they are. Over 6 million of them are asian accounts that have a different pricing structure. They pay significantly less (hourly rate in the pennies) than North American or European customers.

  • Hvac0120

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 10:25 am PT

    $15/mth - 1 person
    $180/year - 1 person
    10,000,000 accounts (before Linch King)
    Total = $1,800,000,000 / year for Activision-Blizzard for WoW
    The game has been our since 2004, so multiply that by 4 years and you see that they have made $7,200,000,000 since the games release on subscriptions alone.

    Not that I have the time for the game anyway, but don't you think it's time the customers see some kick-back from this outside of having to pay for new expansions?

    I say Acti-Blizzard lowers the monthly fee to $5/month per person. It seems like they would be able to afford it...

  • LikwidX3

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 10:18 am PT

    kool. WoW kicks ass at selling lol. and CryonicMaestro i bet you feel good about your life, posting about how other people dont have lives? you're "cool".

  • runnermpls

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 10:12 am PT

    interestingly enough, i work for a major retailer and video games and gaming systems are the one area of the store that is surpassing forecast while sales in everything else are slumping.

  • ftjx

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 9:28 am PT

    this is good. Setting a new sales record in times of recession, very impressive.

  • CryonicMaestro posted Nov 21, 2008 8:58 am PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    CryonicMaestro

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 8:58 am PT (hide)

    haha I love the title of this Article , bunch of no-lifers

  • BILLNYE6983

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 8:47 am PT

    I like how people can play call of duty all day and not get flak about it but if you play WOW that is all you ever do and your addicted. Most people I know who play WOW or any MMO are laid back about it, and even the ones who are more serious don't take it THAT seriously. Stop the stereotyping.

  • baal46

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 8:35 am PT

    The success of WoW is a strong stimulus to other publishers to take the risk associated with producing games, especially for the PC. Whether you like WoW or not, it is undeniably a good thing for the industry. Wishing for it to fail is pretty darn ignorant.

  • ChampMLG

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 7:55 am PT

    Haha I'm down with the South Park episode that would be sweet

  • starwars999

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 7:40 am PT

    Blizzard is really doing well for themselves.

  • shadowblade99

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 7:19 am PT

    Yay, much like Star Trek before it, WoW isn't about to die. That's fine with me (well as far as Star Trek is concerned that fine with me). Maybe we'll get another great South Park episode after this.

  • Tremblay343

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 6:20 am PT

    I'm one of those 2.8 million. It's definitely a much much better expansion than BC was.

  • petrino

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 6:17 am PT

    is werid...i went back to my old neighbor hood where i grew up to see my dad...and i went past the old soccer field...nada...no kids playing...and that football field used to be a mudhole in summer...now it was overgrown...
    computers are taking over the world... we are slaves to the machines

  • Coolvetica

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 6:00 am PT

    I miss the days when people use to play outside

  • -Beatz-

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 5:34 am PT

    Woah, that's really, really a lot. But I'm not surprised, since WoW has like, 11 million subscribers (which there aren't actually 11 million people)

  • Pablo_Heroin

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 5:10 am PT

    diablo 3 will break it

  • dsa0224

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 4:49 am PT

    no wonder why the play grounds are soo empty these days and no one wants to hang out at the club

  • 02sfraser

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 3:48 am PT

    no suprises there. at GAME we got 2 big boxes of it. gone in a day.

  • arbsetbse6

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 2:35 am PT

    WoW sucks.

  • Ze_das_coves

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 2:20 am PT

    wow, that shows that pc games can still sell a lot. I loved WC3 and Frozen Throne and was really considering getting WOW, but then the “paying to play” thing and the fact that I'm not that all into RPGs kinda pulled me off. But I would probably have spent a lot of time playing if I had bought it, so maybe it was for the best (having to study and what not ) The only thing I can ask Blizzard now is WC4. Based on the fact that people say WOW continues to improve gives me hope that when they do it, it will also rock!

  • Slizergiy

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 12:55 am PT

    Oh dear. I was part of that first 24 hours statistics. Oh well. I like playing WoW just as the next person does, but I have a life as I have other things to do as well, like drawing and Uni (which ultimutly comes first). If one can have a balance then your fine.

  • Falru

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 12:16 am PT

    I would've been so much happier if they'd continued Arthas's story in RTS, he's one of my favorite video game characters of all time. I loved Warcraft III and his fall from humanity, and the gameplay was great. But I tried and failed to find any enjoyment in WoW, the gameplay feels almost identical to the RTS (and a map variant called DotA) and 95% of the players seem to be immature whiners and drama queens.

    wonder if Korea would implode if they announced World of Starcraft.

    I love blizzard for doing this though:
    http://www.halolz.com/2008/11/13/nice/

  • abr_alex

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 12:11 am PT

    lol and they say PC is dead )))

  • CureForLiving

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 12:07 am PT

    I started playing wow too late, so I'm personally going to focus on more of the the existing content before buying the expansion.

  • Sheiko

    Posted Nov 20, 2008 11:50 pm PT

    Simply put: WoW=all your base are belong to us. Addicted or not Results mean this must be good.

  • witide

    Posted Nov 20, 2008 11:36 pm PT

    My brother bought Lich King in the afternoon of the opening day. He likes the game, isn't addicted, and just plays for a few hours when he feels like it. People need to stop stereotyping the players and realise that it's popular because it's enjoyable.

  • hansolo14 posted Nov 20, 2008 10:58 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    hansolo14

    Posted Nov 20, 2008 10:58 pm PT (hide)

    Dark_Mits it's not about preference's, we are negative about this game people that had played and enjoy it, yes, but had realize that work's as a drug, dont compare WOW sales with GOW2 cause junk..s are capable of anything for their dosis

  • Dark_Mits

    Posted Nov 20, 2008 10:21 pm PT

    I'm not surprised by the many negative votes on this topic, after all, you people are angry cause it's not Halo 3, or GTA4.

    Seriously, if the title was "World of Grand Theft Auto is a reality", people would be clicking thumbs up on any comment congratulating the team that did that.

    There is a game that is more successful than your fps/tps. Deal with it. It does not mean your game is worse or less enjoyable. And if the game was terrible, it wouldn't be critically applauded.

  • Wrecked69 posted Nov 20, 2008 10:08 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    Wrecked69

    Posted Nov 20, 2008 10:08 pm PT (hide)

    Lich King is terrible. It's success just shows how many people are hopelessly addicted to WoW.

  • darin025

    Posted Nov 20, 2008 9:35 pm PT

    Im not a PC gamer, but DANG 2.8M in 24 hours?!?! Ill give props to those numbers. What a strong fan base...

  • SPD_WeBmAsTaH posted Nov 20, 2008 9:31 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    SPD_WeBmAsTaH

    Posted Nov 20, 2008 9:31 pm PT (hide)

    I may have the game, but I still own my own soul. HAAAAAA TAKE THAT LICH KNG!

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