World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Becomes Fastest-Selling PC Game of All Time
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment’s latest release achieves sky-shattering sales record with more units sold through as of first day of launch than any other PC game in history.

Player engagement in World of Warcraft reaches highest levels in a decade

IRVINE, Calif.—December 8, 2020—Starting November 23, World of Warcraft® players around the globe began their journey into the unknown reaches of Azeroth’s afterlife in Shadowlands, the game’s highly anticipated eighth expansion. Today, Blizzard Entertainment announced that as of the first full day of Shadowlands’ launch, more than 3.7 million units had sold through globally, making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time industry-wide.

The previously announced industry record-holder, Blizzard’s own Diablo® III, sold through more than 3.5 million copies as of its first day of release. Today’s announcement confirms that Shadowlands has surpassed that milestone as well as any other reported sell-through achievement for the same time frame among all PC games historically.

In addition, World of Warcraft has continued to see strong engagement from the global community franchise-wide.

In the months leading up to the expansion’s release and the time since launch, the game reached and has sustained its highest number of players on monthly or longer-term subscriptions compared to the same period ahead of and following any WoW expansion in the past decade, in both the West and the East.

Players have spent more time in Azeroth year to date than in the same period of any of the last 10 years.
In addition, total player time in game this year to date has nearly doubled compared to the same period last year.

“It’s been a huge thrill to enter this whole-new dimension of the Warcraft universe together with millions of players around the world,” said J. Allen Brack, president of Blizzard Entertainment. “It’s been equally rewarding to see players enjoying all of the new features and content in Shadowlands—whether they’re exploring new aspects of their characters with the Covenants or setting foot in WoW for the first time with the new-player experience in Exile’s Reach—and there’s much more to come.”

The launch of Shadowlands is just the beginning of an adventure unlike anything ever before experienced in World of Warcraft, with much more in store for players in the weeks and months ahead. Starting today, Shadowlands Season 1 commences when the gates to the expansion’s first raid, Castle Nathria—the gothic stronghold of Revendreth—open in Normal and Heroic difficulties. Mythic Keystone dungeons will also become available, tempting Azeroth’s heroes with greater rewards for taking on increased challenges. This season’s dungeon affix, Prideful, turns heroes’ own sense of accomplishment against them in the form of ego-wrought manifestations. In addition, players will be able to put their skills to the ultimate test in Arenas and Battlegrounds as the expansion’s first Rated PvP season begins.


About World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
Shadowlands is the eighth expansion for Blizzard Entertainment’s acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Launched worldwide starting on November 23, Shadowlands sends players to the unexplored expanse of Warcraft’s afterlife, where the machinations of Sylvanas Windrunner and the malevolent Jailer threaten the very balance of life and death. There, players will explore disparate realms of wonder and horror; forge a bond with one of the Shadowlands’ four ruling Covenants in exchange for otherworldly power; delve into the Maw to rescue wrongly tormented souls; and ascend the twisting Tower of the Damned in search of legendary gear to help them restore balance to the beyond.

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is available digitally in multiple editions, including the expansion-only Base Edition ($39.99); the Heroic Edition ($59.99), which also comes with a Shadowlands-level character boost and Ensorcelled Everwyrm mount—additionally offering a quest to earn a new transmogrification set; and the Epic Edition ($79.99), which adds the Anima Wyrmling pet, Wraithchill cosmetic weapon effect, Eternal Traveler’s Hearthstone, and 30 days of game time.

To learn more about World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, and for additional details on the different editions available, visit the official World of Warcraft website at www.worldofwarcraft.com.
This article was originally published in forum thread: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Becomes Fastest-Selling PC Game of All Time started by Stoy View original post
Comments 303 Comments
  1. Donald Hellscream's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Pebrocks The Warlock View Post
    Why is it some people here feel personally attacked when WoW is shown to be doing well?
    Because wow is dead and anything showing the contrary offends them.
  1. Nerovar's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Pebrocks The Warlock View Post
    Why is it some people here feel personally attacked when WoW is shown to be doing well?
    Because they dislike the state of the game which means if they see that Blizzard is successful with their current direction, nothing is likely to change which is obviously bad news to those people. Then again, we have to keep in mind that we heard the same record breaking self-adulation from Blizzard with BfA and we all know how that expansion played out.

    Apart from that, I'm very curious about how Classic's success has influenced Shadowlands' design decisions and how it will influence other expansions in the future. On one hand, there's an obvious market for the older style of gameplay featured in Classic and Blizzard has moved towards that in some regards (itemization, unpruning, level squish) but on the other hand, they'll probably suspect that it's not that clever to make the two games too similar in terms of design philosophy.
  1. Donald Hellscream's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Blackmist View Post
    In other news, WoW now has 3.7 million players.
    Yeah, unless you count the people who played the game prior to Shadowlands.. You really didn't think that one through did you?
  1. Blackmist's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Azerate View Post
    This dude here on the other hand has problems with reading
    No, I just read more than they write.

    This was a day one simultaneous launch. There were no physical copies to be found anywhere. Anyone not pre-purchasing or buying by the end of the first day probably isn't going to bother.

    But I'm sure it's got twelvety billion players if that's what keeps you happy.
  1. Cazze's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Moi2003 View Post
    I like how they say in the last decade, meaning it is below what it was at its peak in Wrath. Also curious to see if the those sales include any pre-orders or is that how many they actually sold the first day.
    While true that wrath had a massive momentum and is responsible for the worldwide boom of wow's popularity, the peak subs were at the beginning of Cataclysm.
  1. Lorgar Aurelian's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Blackmist View Post
    No, I just read more than they write.

    This was a day one simultaneous launch. There were no physical copies to be found anywhere. Anyone not pre-purchasing or buying by the end of the first day probably isn't going to bother.

    But I'm sure it's got twelvety billion players if that's what keeps you happy.
    So wod only had 3.4 then? There was no physical barrier there so that must mean if people didn’t get it day one they wouldn’t bother right?
  1. Blackmist's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Daemos daemonium View Post
    So wod only had 3.4 then? There was no physical barrier there so that must mean if people didn’t get it day one they wouldn’t bother right?
    WoD had physical copies in the shops.
  1. Rogalicus's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Azerate View Post
    Always love this kind of news because it proves the haters wrong and it proves the game is actually doing better than ever before
    No, it doesn't. The only thing it proves is that new expansion can sell more copies in a year since pre-orders opened than Cata on first day.
  1. Lorgar Aurelian's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Blackmist View Post
    WoD had physical copies in the shops.
    And said physical copies would be counted in the day one sales like always. Do you think the reported sales each expan are digital only or some thing?
  1. Kel_Sceptic's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Blackmist View Post
    No, I just read more than they write.

    This was a day one simultaneous launch. There were no physical copies to be found anywhere. Anyone not pre-purchasing or buying by the end of the first day probably isn't going to bother.

    But I'm sure it's got twelvety billion players if that's what keeps you happy.

    It has enough players to make it roll and roll till we all retire and die while playing wow. Just enough players to make you sad :/ and unhappy that you don't have a good game to play. But if you are playing it ... then this says much Cause, yeah, BFA SUCKED, BUT, and there's a bit BUT, even if it was the first expansion that made me quit WoW for 1 whole year, I still played the 1year or so of BFA (1st two months and the last 11 from it).

    So even tough we all know BFA's SYSTEMS sucked (no pvp vendors, no alt catchup for a 1.5years, grindy af azerite power system without barriers, CORRUPTION braker for PvP, trinkets brokers for PvP), we still played the hell out of that "shitty" xpac. That mean that we are either fked up, or that WoW is the best MMO out there, even at its lowest point.

    GL HF, hope for the best. For the moment the start is great and rated PvP seems so promising.
  1. Azerate's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Blackmist View Post
    No, I just read more than they write.
    If you read what isn't written, you are simply imagining things and attempting to push your biased opinions as facts, nothing else.

    Physical copies have nothing to do with it at all. I'm not even sure why you think this matters. Sales of physical copies and digital copies can be tallied up, and they are in cases of where more physical copies are sold for a game title.

    I don't know how many players there are, and I don't claim to, as opposed to people like you who conjure numbers out of thin air Thankfully, you're not responsible for the game, and Blizzard does allow people who buy the game after its launch day to play it, so it is definitely more than the number of first day sales.
  1. TheFirstOnes's Avatar
    "BUT WOW ONLY HAS 3.7 MILLION PLAYERS, DESPITE THE EXPANSION BEING THE FASTEST SELLING PC GAME OF ALL TIME!"

    You guys are pathetic. Just be glad WoW is doing good. God, you guys are weird.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Blackmist View Post
    No, I just read more than they write.

    This was a day one simultaneous launch. There were no physical copies to be found anywhere. Anyone not pre-purchasing or buying by the end of the first day probably isn't going to bother.

    But I'm sure it's got twelvety billion players if that's what keeps you happy.
    You're the one making up random ass numbers. How about you, ya know, play the game and enjoy it with your friends? That's what we're all doing right now. SL isn't cluttered with stupid ass systems like BFA, so it's very easy to get into this expac.
  1. EyelessCrow's Avatar
    Curious of what the current numbers are. It was great seeing so many people around. Now everything is back to seeming empty and lifeless aside from the occasional player. I have been trying to find enjoyment in this game but I just can't. It feels like everything is drawn out even more to keep you locked in. Just not in a compelling rewarding way. There is no WoW feel to me at all. I can't quite put my finger on it but something about this expansion just feels...off. It's not compelling or at all.
  1. Nemyhlol's Avatar
    CP77 launch in 2 days tho
  1. McNeil's Avatar
    Its a good number, but its not really an indication of how well the games marketing or quality has been. You got both Covid-19 and Classic that boosted the numbers which makes me actually surprised that this isn't a higher number. Still good to see the game doing fine considering that Shadowlands is a step up from BFA. What really matters is if players will stick around though.
  1. Cazze's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nemyhlol View Post
    CP77 launch in 2 days tho
    So? Most of 77 copies sold would be on consoles anyway. I think.
  1. LanToaster's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by CerealLord View Post
    But, of course, Classic only players are helping boost this since it is World of Warcraft. No idea how the breakdown would actually work if reported.
    Quote Originally Posted by Sluvs View Post
    Classic is doing some work there too, I would not be surprised if 30% (yeah yeah, pulled out of my ass) of the playerbase plays classic only.
    I might be stupid, but why the heck should Classic Players buy an Expansion that they dont play?
  1. rrayy's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by aeuhe4yxzhds View Post
    Well, yeah? Cant buy it anywhere other then their store.

    Always the same crap, they make up the rules and push it as something amazing.
    You do realize that where you can buy it is irrelevant as they are only talking about number of copies sold, right? In fact, having it only available in one spot can be a hinderance.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Nemyhlol View Post
    CP77 launch in 2 days tho
    That is going to be almost all console copies, not PC.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by McNeil View Post
    Its a good number, but its not really an indication of how well the games marketing or quality has been. You got both Covid-19 and Classic that boosted the numbers which makes me actually surprised that this isn't a higher number. Still good to see the game doing fine considering that Shadowlands is a step up from BFA. What really matters is if players will stick around though.
    Classic has zero bearing here. They are talking about copies of the expansion sold, not subs.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Blackmist View Post
    No, I just read more than they write.

    This was a day one simultaneous launch. There were no physical copies to be found anywhere. Anyone not pre-purchasing or buying by the end of the first day probably isn't going to bother.

    But I'm sure it's got twelvety billion players if that's what keeps you happy.
    HOw the game was bought does not matter. It monly matter how many copies were bought and they can tally them up regardless of how they were bought. Let's go with the facts, not a made up narrative.
  1. Nerovar's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by rrayy View Post
    Classic has zero bearing here. They are talking about copies of the expansion sold, not subs.
    The Blizzard post mentions sub counts pre-launch.
    In the months leading up to the expansion’s release and the time since launch, the game reached and has sustained its highest number of players on monthly or longer-term subscriptions compared to the same period ahead of and following any WoW expansion in the past decade, in both the West and the East.
  1. Naiattavain's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Msi View Post
    And people are saying WOW is dead lol, nahh WOW is doing way better than before.
    i don't bother wasting time in wow anymore.

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