Instead of standing in line while waiting for the midnight release of the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, I went the digital download route. I don’t need manuals or DVDs sitting on the floor and taking up space. I know a lot of other players went that route as well, but there were also a fair number of people who went and bought a physical copy. How do we know this? Blizzard announced that it sold 3.3 million copies of WoW in the first 24 hours of release. This surpassed the 2.8 million sold in 24 hours for the WoW: Wrath of the Litch King in 2008.
“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.”
There are still plenty of copies to sell before Blizzard satisfies all of its subscriber base. Blizzard says it has 12 million players worldwide.
4 Comments
I got back on WoW on a 7-day free comeback trial thing… Was only in the game on the first day and never logged in after checking up on my alts. I just didn’t have the feelings for the game like I did when Wrath came out. So I don’t think I’m ever going to be back in WoW again, unless I get that 7-day free comeback thing again even with this new Expansion.
That’s pretty wild! I remember playing WoW back in the days before that first expansion (Burning Crusade?) was released. It was fun, but ultimately I couldn’t/can’t justify spending $15 a month to play the game. Way too much repetition, grinding, and technical things (specifically my computer not being able to handle the game) to keep me in it… so, I guess not for everyone, but that’s still nuts they’ve sold so much!
I’ve been playing WoW since right before BC came out. I have to say so far I’m having a blast playing the new expansion. So many things have changed this time around. Not only did a few new areas get added but nearly all the old areas get reworked. Wotlk had me bored a few months in with nothing really to do except grind Icecrown Citadel raids but there is so much new content and old revamped content this go round that I’m sure I’ll have something to do for a long time to come. On top of that adding in playable races of werewolves and goblins.
I have to say Cataclysm really brought new life to the game, the new low level areas are much, much better, and it’s a whole tun of fun now. The high level stuff will also kick your butt, people are used to rolling through dungeons mindlessly, but are getting wiped on “trash”.
I honestly feel like they basically made WoW 2.0 without the splitting the player base, like EQ and EQ2 did. Not to mention all the huge interface changes with the maps, talents, spells. I’m having a blast, after going away for months of not even touching the game.