BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT IMAGE VIA GAMESPRESS
Following the Nov. 13 release of the “Wrath of the Lich King” expansion pack, Blizzard’s award-winning subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (AWSBMMORPG) World of Warcraft has reached a new high of 11.5 million subscribers worldwide.
Within its first 24 hours of availability, “Wrath of the Lich King” sold more than 2.8 million copies, making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time according to Blizzard records and distributor reports. In addition to winning a number of editor’s choice awards from major gaming publications, the expansion has now gone on to sell more than 4 million copies in its first month, setting a new record for monthly PC-game sales. Both sales records were previously held by World of Warcraft’s first expansion, “The Burning Crusade.”
“We’re pleased to welcome the new and returning players who have helped World of Warcraft reach these new milestones, and we appreciate the enthusiasm and support that the game’s global community has continued to show,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard. “We look forward to providing all of them with an excellent entertainment experience for a long time to come.”
“Not only is ‘Wrath of the Lich King’ still doing well, the base World of Warcraft game and the World of Warcraft Battle Chest are performing better than last year,” said Bob McKenzie, senior vice president of merchandising at GameStop. “That type of traction is very impressive for a game that is going into its fifth holiday season and speaks to the enthusiastic player base Blizzard Entertainment products have.”
To keep pace with the continued growth of World of Warcraft as well as development on other Blizzard Entertainment games, the company is currently hiring for numerous open positions while many other developers are having trouble making payroll, laying people off or shutting down.
Related:
- ‘Star Wars: The Old Republic’ MMO begins to come alive
- Atari assimilates ‘Star Trek Online’ developer
- Bad times for Mesa-based game developer Cheyenne Mountain
- ‘Lich King’ conquers PC game sales record
- Is your computer ready to face the ‘Wrath of the Lich King’?
