World of Warcraft expansion sells 2.4m copies in 24 hours

23 January 2007 18:09 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Blizzard Entertainment the makers of World of Warcraft have announced that its new expansion pack World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade has broken the day-one sales record to become the fastest-selling PC game ever in North America and Europe, with a worldwide total of nearly 2.4 million copies sold in the first 24 hours of availability.

The Burning Crusade, the first expansion set for World of Warcraft, was simultaneously released in North America, Europe, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia on 16 January, and on 17 January in Australia and New Zealand.

Day-one sales totals on both continents were similar, with an estimated total of nearly 1.2 million copies sold on the first day in North America and an estimated total of more than 1.1 million copies sold in Europe within the first 24 hours of launch.

“The Burning Crusade has already exceeded even our most ambitious expectations”, said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re pleased that so many players are eager to see all of the new content that the expansion has to offer, and we look forward to seeing everyone online as additional players continue to upgrade in the days ahead.”

Prior to the launch of The Burning Crusade, World of Warcraft was played by more than 8 million players around the world - with more than 2 million on North American realms and more than 1.5 million on European realms - making it the most successful subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game in PC-gaming history.

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Gaming, PC games, MMORPG, Blizzard, World of Warcraft