Burning Crusade sells 2.4 million in 24 hours

Blizzard announces that the World of Warcraft add-on is the fastest-selling PC game ever in America and Europe.

Last week, thousands turned up to midnight launch events around the world to get their hands on The Burning Crusade, the highly anticipated expansion pack for World of Warcraft. At the Oxford Street HMV store in London, approximately 3,000 people, some in cosplay outfits, formed a massive queue around the block.

Of World of Warcraft's current 8 million worldwide subscribers, 2.4 million bought the expansion pack the first day it was available. According to Blizzard, that makes it the fastest-selling PC title of all time in the UK and Europe. In a statement, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime not-so-modestly commented that "The Burning Crusade has already exceeded even our most ambitious expectations."

In the US, 1.2 million of the 2 million WOW players snagged the Burning Crusade in the first 24 hours after it went on sale. In Europe, more than 1.1 million copies were sold--meaning that 73 percent of the 1.5 million WOW players in the region now own the expansion. Blizzard said 1.7 million players had already logged into the Burning Crusade within 24 hours of its release, with one French gamer reportedly hitting the new level cap of 70 within 28 hours.

The Burning Crusade debuted at number one in the UK all-formats chart, although it narrowly missed becoming the fastest-selling PC game in the UK ever, according to Chart-Track. US PC sales numbers for the week won't be available until next week.

214 Comments

  • ognen

    Posted Dec 29, 2007 11:25 am PT

    Big Congrats. to Blizzard about this!

  • minhas32

    Posted Dec 28, 2007 11:28 am PT

    PC wins.I also bring wow.It is a super games.Because i dont like console.So Blizzard Congrats

  • neo16161616

    Posted Apr 1, 2007 9:39 am PT

    Thats alot of copies! DAM!

  • Fatty_Arbuckle

    Posted Feb 9, 2007 6:43 pm PT

    Oh... a game as good as WoW only has 8,000,000 active players? I thought it would have had more, since RuneScape has over 10,000,000 active players.

  • jaychow101

    Posted Feb 1, 2007 4:47 am PT

    wow... 2.4 million in 24 hours!!!!! that's amazing... Looking forward to it.... =)

  • ciaxhieu

    Posted Jan 28, 2007 4:03 pm PT

    o dang it he beat me to reaching lvl 70

  • AvIdGaMeR444

    Posted Jan 28, 2007 1:27 pm PT

    Still sold about a million behind Halo 2 in 24 hours...lol.

  • smfes

    Posted Jan 28, 2007 11:37 am PT

    wow is great me even own tbc

  • saildocva

    Posted Jan 28, 2007 6:47 am PT

    Great scott folks. The complaints that its no fun and yet addictive to point of anti-social are a bit contradictory to say the least. The game is so well done that you can spend enormous amounts of time, but you can do that drinking, watching football, playing cards, working out, etc etc etc. No one makes someone play for hours and be unproductive. If you are on this site, you play games (or you have a real problem) and likely spend same amount of time, just not on one game. I use WOW as a one hour vacation once or twice a week. Its totally immersive character helps get my head out of work etc and to relax. But I do control it to 1-2 hours a week. Like anything - its up to you to control.

  • thehip81

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 5:21 pm PT

    Wow, that's a lot o WarCrack addicts!! Umm, do we have a problem here?? 1.1 million unproductive citizens of society

  • datniccah187

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 10:48 am PT

    I have'nt played much of this game but appearently its a hot game. I need to make one of my friends buy it so i can play it.

  • d3funkt

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 10:41 am PT

    "If you're going to MMO hardcore, get a gym membership and put five hours in a week. Before you know it you'll be RICH, FIT, and have A LEVEL 70 BADASS!"

    Best post ever. Truth is if you play an MMO for $15/mo, you save a LOT when you don't go out. A single night drinking costs me like $40. People who complain about the cost are idiots. The bottom line, whether you want to believe it or not, is that World of Warcraft is the best game ever made. Period. No one seems to want to give that title to an MMO, but after playing tons of them, it's indeed true. Ocarina of Time could compare if WoW didn't give you years and years of playtime.

  • Ryle_Boy

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 7:01 am PT

    awfitzwater I played wow for over 8 months and i will tell one one thing! It was crappy anima. The world never changes and it all about grinding and raiding. I had 2 charectors a 60 fire mage and a 60 warlock. Thet were on two differnt servers due to crappy server maianinace and bugs and problems. They would not let me put both on the same server. at 60 all you can do is raid and grind. I left the game for the following reason.

    1. one no customer support! EVER
    2. The same old grind nothing changes.
    3. lack of real comunnity.

    I went to Everquest II and wow what a differance

    Quite the contrary, actually. Grinding and raiding? There is PvP, you know, which I really enjoy doing. And I'm a 60, I find plenty to do, even if it's just for shiggles in guild chat. And for a starters, there is customer support, it's live, in-game, and it's always changing. Real community? Theres probaly (Look, I have no idea, this is just a pure guess) around 150 servers, there's bound to be at least one of those with a 'real community,' my server is very close-knit, a lot of people know a lot of people, so there's a lot of people who you're friendly with.

    So, your argument is without merit.

  • Fanton

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 6:59 am PT

    "can't see why 8 million people are daft enough to pay more than once for a game"

    It's simple, the game lasts a year for some and 2-3 years for others.

    Let me know which game does the same for $50... All I can think of is Counter-Strike and that has a very specific niche.

  • fahad2mail

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 11:39 pm PT

    hmmm. sounds boring.

  • Dryker

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 6:29 pm PT

    You may not be able to kill that which has no life due to the fact that their entire entertainment roster costs them a mere $15 a month, freeing up what can be a considerable amount of income for Savings. Not to mention those hardcore who hardly find the time to eat and have lossed countless pounds of weight due to their Warcraft fasting and are now mean, lean, gaming machines.
    I personally no longer play, but when I did...
    I lost 20 lbs. and plenty of extra cash due to the fact I preferred to be online than gambling with friends, clubbing, and even the simple act of renting movies. All of which cost exceedingly more than an MMO.
    All I can say is... If you're going to MMO hardcore, get a gym membership and put five hours in a week. Before you know it you'll be RICH, FIT, and have A LEVEL 70 BADASS!

  • playforpride372

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 4:51 pm PT

    Holy Crap! Blizzard is a great game company. Not for them, Microsoft, and Value, the PC gaming would of died long ago. Congrats!

    PS- i use to play WOW, but i finally broke the addiction, and vowed never to play it again. It's a great game, but DO NOT PLAY IT IF YOU HAVE A FUN LIFE!!! YOU WILL BE ADDICTED FOR AT LEAST 3 YEARS!!!

  • NewAmerica2121

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 3:12 pm PT

    Everyone who is mad at Blizzard for making money, please just get over it. They do put effort into making thier game, you try doing better. It is a well put together game. Whether you like it or not is not going to change anything.

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 2:50 pm PT

    aw shoot...i estimated 3 million in the first week...that should be wrong

  • dragonwiz0d

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 1:55 pm PT

    lol u got that from south park

  • bloodyrooster

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 11:29 am PT

    "How do you kill that which has no life?"

  • shrink45

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 7:10 am PT

    "pwnr I still don't see the point of WoW"

    So Blizzard can make crazy money with little to no effort.

  • JoeSSJ3

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 6:43 am PT

    Congrats to Blizzard .

  • Vorlin

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 2:02 am PT

    For all those that don't think paying 15 bucks a month for an MMO, understand this:

    Assuming you play *just* 30 hours a month, that's 50 cents an hour, 1 hour a day. You'd be hard pressed to go to an arcade and spend 50 cents on a game and last an hour (especially considering that most games are at least 50 cents, if not more).

    The more you play an MMO at 15 bucks a month, the less it costs per hour. Grinding, raiding, or whatever, that's still the best bargain for gaming in the MMO department. The numbers don't lie.

  • Outlawlaw

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 12:27 am PT

    Grats to blizzard.

    I had to stop playing though, too much boring content, even after beta testing BC.

  • Deathwing13

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 10:51 pm PT

    I'm at a slight loss for words...

  • senjutsu

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 8:07 pm PT

    about 100 000 units per hour was sold?

    I don't like this game but I still have to applause blizzard, they'll make a LOT of money with that, lol.

  • Conor_220

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 7:25 pm PT

    I tripped and ate my face

  • focanews

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 6:06 pm PT

    the game going to brazil, when!!!

  • okassar

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 5:31 pm PT

    Good God!!!!When will that game get old!I mean most games already surpassed it's graphics unless you're looking at like, the superman game or something.OMG it was amazing when it came out, but it's sucking people's lives like crazy even though it's not really good enough to be worth it,you can compare it to runescape,except WOW has better graphics.

  • HyperMetaDragon

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 3:43 pm PT

    Holy *******************************.

  • Olzhas

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 3:22 pm PT

    lool 70 in 24 hours

  • pwnr

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 2:52 pm PT

    I still don't see the point of WoW

  • strangelove

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 1:36 pm PT

    First of all: Everquest II is absolutely abysmal by comparison. Awfitzater: you say all you did in at 60 was raid and grind, despite the fact that WoW has an amazing PvP system. Even before the honor revamp, at least world PvP was an option... in EQ2 all you do from the day your character is born, is GRIND. Awfully hypocritical of you to say you like EQ2 better.

    Also, to those afraid to pay a subscription fee: WoW will save you money. It's all you will play for months or years. Instead of buying a new game every week or two at $30-$50 a month, you will pay just $15 a month to stay hopelessly addicted to one amazing game. It's a frikkin bargain.

  • aznballer91

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 1:33 pm PT

    "one French gamer reportedly hitting the new level cap of 70 within 28 hours." THATS RIDICULOUS!!!!

  • Euanp

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 12:58 pm PT

    Ive never play Wow, I know it's good, but do you have to pay a fee to play online? that would suck

  • awfitzwater

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 12:41 pm PT

    I played wow for over 8 months and i will tell one one thing! It was crappy anima. The world never changes and it all about grinding and raiding. I had 2 charectors a 60 fire mage and a 60 warlock. Thet were on two differnt servers due to crappy server maianinace and bugs and problems. They would not let me put both on the same server. at 60 all you can do is raid and grind. I left the game for the following reason.

    1. one no customer support! EVER
    2. The same old grind nothing changes.
    3. lack of real comunnity.

    I went to Everquest II and wow what a differance!

  • tpool01eb

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 11:31 am PT

    back@Theclow Your're probably right. So much preivew material already out for Starcraft whatever (could be online or S2). So I gather more people are hoping for WoS over DO? What if there was a dual release? Any chance of 20 million copies in one day or is every Blizzard fan already playing on WOW? Who thinks anything else besides another WOW expansion will come out before 2010?

  • jsambeckwith

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 11:01 am PT

    Good for them. As far as I'm concerned, more money for Blizzard is more support to Starcraft 2. Therefore, this is a good thing.

  • Jason_A

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 11:01 am PT

    TorugotoShinsan said below a couple of posts that he "can't see why 8 million people are daft enough to pay more than once for a game".

    --> I totally can't understand why people don't realize that paying more than once for a game could be worth it if it means a particularly good game. This is like saying "I can't understand why people are willing to pay ONCE for a game". I mean why are you willing to $70 once for a game but can't understand why someone would pay $15 a month? The $15 a month game (plus the original purchase) just costs more, but if its a better game than what is wrong with that?

    TorugotoShinsan also says that he CAN understand this if "8 million people have mummy and daddy pay for it". --> Are you an idiot man? Did you ever think that people might have jobs to pay for it themselves?

  • supamancam

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 10:13 am PT

    Unbelievable sales figures, to be sure.. Brilliant. Btw, 'I feel bad for all these people that only have a life online and no real social life.'? What are you talking about? It's possible to have the best of both worlds, believe it or not. Also, believe it or not, some of us don't consider paying about 1/2 a dollar a day to play a game 'a lot of money'.

  • TorugotoShinsan

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 10:02 am PT

    poon
    Some people such as me work for a living and have more then enough spare income to spend as we wish, not everyone on this site is a child

    I intive you to find where I call everyone on this site a child.

    Also try living in England in an area that has nothing but minimum wages jobs. Now try to get through college with one of those jobs. Wages have to cover food, transportation, books, writing equipment, internet bills etc without help from anyone (other than my dad etting me stay at his house). I also have to look after a six year old girl after my mum just walked away and my dad tries to work to pay the bills.

    Yep so add that plus fee to play a video game that already costs a lot of money and you'll unserdtand why I hate this kind of game.

  • ord1000

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 9:56 am PT

    That's incredibly impressive sales figures. I've never played WOW, and probably never will, however Blizzard must be laughing all the way to the bank with this.

  • poon

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 9:48 am PT

    Some people such as me work for a living and have more then enough spare income to spend as we wish, not everyone on this site is a child.

  • TorugotoShinsan

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 9:43 am PT

    Meh I don't like pay-to-play games. I honestly can't see why 8 million people are daft enough to pay more than once for a game. Unless said 8 million people have mummy and daddy pay for it. Then I guess that answers what kind of people buy pay-to-play games.

  • Proman84

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 9:16 am PT

    If this means that people are more interested in PC gaming becuase of this than I'm happy.

  • Yazee

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 9:10 am PT

    GKBeetle "I feel bad for all these people that only have a life online and no real social life. "

    m8 i play wow and i have social life, it doesnt mean who play wow have no social life maybe u say that cuz u cant get wow

  • VGameLover

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 8:57 am PT

    omg! the lives of the nerds all over the world is finally over!

  • Sil3n7Knight

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 8:54 am PT

    That is INCREDIBLE!

  • martin93

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 8:33 am PT

    Holy zoicks Batman! But seriously, that's incredible.

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