Cataclysm sells 3.3 Million!

[Larcissa]

SAN FRANCISCO - BLIZZARD Entertainment on Monday said that the latest chapter in its winning 'World of Warcraft' online computer game franchise sold more than 3.3 million copies in just 24 hours on the market.

Cataclysm snatched the crown for fastest-selling computer game from Wrath of the Lich King software released in 2008 as the second expansion to the franchise.

'We had to bring Azeroth to the brink of destruction in Cataclysm, but the result was our best expansion yet,' Blizzard co-founder and chief executive Mike Morhaime said, referring to game's fantasy world.

Cataclysm was released internationally on December 7.

More than 12 million people worldwide pay monthly subscription fees to play the massively multi-player online role-playing game.

Players represented by animated characters such as dwarfs, trolls, or humans explore, battle, and take on quests in the game made by Blizzard, a division of Activision. -- AFP

Thoughts anyone?

[Shalaman]

Wasnt this posted like yesturday?

[Deleted]

Thats alooooot of games

[Odexy]

How could 12 million be playing but only 3.3 million sold? Sounds really low for the amount of subscriptions.

[Syero]

How could 12 million be playing but only 3.3 million sold? Sounds really low for the amount of subscriptions.

its because that was in the first 24 hours

[Aqua]

Within 24 hours? 3.3 million? Yup that sounds about right for the Hardcore/Semi Hardcore crowd. The others most likely waited.../are still waiting.

[SwissyChief]

Ya i've been wanting to know how well this expansion did on the charts since the future of WoW really depends on these figures. It's awesome to know it's selling well! We can expect a lot of fresh and awesome content for at least another two years!

[Larcissa]

Wasnt this posted like yesturday?

Ah, I didn't see it, just wanted to share with the community anyway, good news nonetheless

[apepi]

Even though it has 12 million subscribers does not mean it 12 million play it.I think blizzard just has counted how may has had subscribed.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6285314...topstory;title
http://blog.games.yahoo.com/blog/258...on-in-24-hours

[MeowthThatsRight]

Many people (like me) are too busy with it being exam time and all to pick up WoW. Also many kids will be getting it for Christmas.

[Truhan]

If you read the fine print, that "first 24 hours" includes the one month of digital pre-sales.

[BubbaJim]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the "12 million players" include China and they only got WoTLK earlier this year didn't they? Not really like that market would be included - just offering another reason why 3.3/12 sounds "low".

Well played to them though! Anyone got a figure for how much COD:Black Ops sold in the first 23 hours? (For PC or otherwise) I'd be interested to see how the figures compare.

[Diaxx]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the "12 million players" include China and they only got WoTLK earlier this year didn't they? Not really like that market would be included - just offering another reason why 3.3/12 sounds "low".

Well played to them though! Anyone got a figure for how much COD:Black Ops sold in the first 23 hours? (For PC or otherwise) I'd be interested to see how the figures compare.

Its the same reason that they never said how many players they had until WoTLK was launched in China, they got alot of players and decided that it would be a good time to update and brag about their massive ammount of playas.

[Truhan]

CoD: Black Ops sold 5.6 million in its first 24 hours. Yes, the subscriber count includes China, CWotLK is what pushed WoW into 12 million subs.

[Thebigblue]

Sadly im not in there. I dont have it yet

[DavidGX]

Ya i've been wanting to know how well this expansion did on the charts since the future of WoW really depends on these figures. It's awesome to know it's selling well! We can expect a lot of fresh and awesome content for at least another two years!

You didn't see the leaked paper/slide that showed they plan at least two more expansions after cataclysm? Apparently someone got fired over that.

[Truhan]

Yeah, WoW isn't going to die any time soon. They really don't need as many subscribers as people think to cover the costs of servers and staff (I believe their last quarterly report stated that the cost of running WoW is $13 million, which would be $52 million a year). The real problem is Activision puts out so much crap that WoW and Call of Duty profits fund stuff that probably should have been scrapped early in development.

[taurendeathknight]

Ya i've been wanting to know how well this expansion did on the charts since the future of WoW really depends on these figures. It's awesome to know it's selling well! We can expect a lot of fresh and awesome content for at least another two years!

You didn't see the leaked paper/slide that showed they plan at least two more expansions after cataclysm? Apparently someone got fired over that.

Yah, Lich King wasn't meant to last as long as it did and Cataclysm will end up stagnant too if it lasts for two years; so I'd say Cataclysm will be at least one year.

[Thraxxigar]

I bought 2.1 million of those copies myself. So these statistics are flawed.

[Chaoslux]

Even though it has 12 million subscribers does not mean it 12 million play it.I think blizzard just has counted how may has had subscribed.

Please learn what a "Subscriber" is in Blizzard's term before you say that.
A Subscriber is someone with an active subscription or game time, or within the free month after they purchase WoW.
A Subscriber EXCLUDE people on trial accounts, banned or frozen accounts, inactive accounts and other accounts with finished game time or cancelled subscription.
Having multiple subscriptions under the same name doesnt count multiple times.

So yes, 12 million people plays.