WoW Shatters Records

[SecretMaster]

Just a little interesting note right here. Can't wait to get it for christmas.

WoW Shatters Records - Read more

IRVINE, Calif. - December 1, 2004 – Blizzard Entertainment® today confirmed that World of Warcraft® has broken day-one sales records in North America, making it the most successful PC game launch ever. World of Warcraft, the company’s subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), sold through to over 240,000 customers at retailers in North America on Tuesday, November 23, selling more in its first 24 hours than any other PC game in history.*

In addition to shattering sales records, World of Warcraft also broke peak concurrency and account creation records for a MMORPG. Within the first day, over 200,000 players created World of Warcraft accounts. By 5:00 p.m. PST, over 100,000 were playing the game concurrently. These two record-breaking numbers made World of Warcraft the fastest-growing MMORPG in history. Within a single day, all original 40+ World of Warcraft servers were filled to capacity, and by the end of the Thanksgiving weekend, more than 40 additional servers were deployed to meet the rapidly growing player base, as the number of new accounts and concurrent users continued to grow.

"We were all extremely pleased with the success of World of Warcraft on its first day of launch," said Mike Morhaime, president of Blizzard Entertainment. "Once we saw the numbers for the first day, we knew that we had to immediately increase capacity to accommodate the huge numbers of players joining our game. We're glad so many people are enjoying World of Warcraft, and we are dedicated to supporting a fun and smooth game experience for everyone."

Retailers across North America reported that the World of Warcraft launch was unequivocally their biggest day-one sales in PC gaming history. Leading industry retailers, such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy, EB, and GameStop, all reported that hundreds of their stores sold out of World of Warcraft within the first day.

"World of Warcraft has once again shown that Blizzard consistently delivers the best games in the industry," said Robert McKenzie, vice president of merchandising at GameStop. "It sold better than any other PC game this year – in fact, World of Warcraft enjoyed the best day-one sell-through GameStop has ever seen on a PC title!"

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, players continued to buy World of Warcraft in record numbers, with a total of over 350,000* copies of the game selling through. Blizzard Entertainment and its retail partners expect the remaining supplies of World of Warcraft to sell out soon. Blizzard is currently evaluating its ability to ship additional games to retailers, given the unexpectedly high demand on the servers. The company continues to increase server capacity to accommodate the growing number of players connecting to the game. As the additional servers are brought online and proven stable, additional copies of World of Warcraft will be made available at retail. Blizzard will announce the availability of those additional games as soon as they are on shelves.

[Riftmaker]

350000 * 50 = 17.5 Million in one week.

350000 * 15 = 4.75 Million a month.

That's a lot of money.

[Niadh]

It might be a lot of money, but running 88 high bandwidth servers must hurt a lot, plus updating the game.

[RoSs_bg2_rox]

Well I'm ordering the European Collecters Edition, so I get it as soon as it's out. It's great, for any other Europeans who want is, drool here.

[ 12-05-2004, 08:35 AM: Message edited by: RoSs_bg2_rox ]

[Dreamer128]

Ah.. I'd love to play, but I simply lack the time. Maybe next year. [img]smile.gif[/img] Still.. it's good to see a company that doesn't treat Europeans like second-rate gamers. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Lord of Alcohol]

guess nobody from here is playing on cenral hellscream server? If you are sebd me a tell, can maybe hook you up with items, I'm in a guild but its very hard to get into this one so cant prmise anytrhing like that. I'm playing as Thuvia (long story but yea I'm playing a girl)

[Luvian]

This is exactly why they prevented European people from joining the American servers so soon.

Like I said, it would have killed them. They are already at their peak.

[Gab]

Is there any single player in WoW or can you only play it online? I not into online games (I'm generally not willing to pay a monthly), but I'm seriously considering buying this game as I'm a lifelong Warcraft fan.

[ 12-12-2004, 01:59 PM: Message edited by: Gab ]

[RoSs_bg2_rox]

Online only. Get it! This is going to be amazing...my european collectors edition is ordered, and I can't wait. £8.99 a month, it's definately worth it. Just think of all the fun you have had in previous Warcraft games!