World of Warcraft might be getting up there in age at this point, but that hasn’t prevented longtime fans from returning to the game in droves with the release of the MMO’s latest expansion, Shadowlands. In fact, fans turned up in such major numbers upon the launch of Shadowlands that the game has now set an incredible new record.

Divulged by Activision-Blizzard today, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands was able to sell approximately 3.7 million units around the globe within the first 24-hours after its release last month. If this number seems high, well, that’s because it is. The total number of copies of Shadowlands that sold on this first day was enough to make it the fastest-selling PC video game in history. Despite being over sixteen years old, the WoW community is still very much engaged.

As for the game that World of Warcraft: Shadowlands beat out to earn this honor, well, it was a case where Blizzard was essentially besting itself. Diablo III previously held the position of being the fastest-selling PC title when it sold 3.5 million copies on its first day of launch back in 2012.

“It’s been a huge thrill to enter this whole-new dimension of the Warcraft universe together with millions of players around the world,” expressed Blizzard president J. Allen Brack in a statement accompanying the sales milestone. Brack also said he’s pleased to see all of the new content that players have been digging into that Shadowlands offers.

Of course, there is a rather notable caveat with this new claim as being the fastest-selling game. World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is technically an expansion rather than an individual game. So even though it now has the title of being the fastest-selling “game”, if you really wanted to get in the weeds with that argument, Diablo III might technically still hold the crown in the PC space.

Whatever distinction you want to make, though, it can't be argued that World of Warcraft isn't still a juggernaut in 2020. While many have wondered what the future will hold for the MMO as time continues to drag on, at this rate, Blizzard surely sees no reason to make any drastic changes if its player base continues to come back time and time again.



Posted: Dec 10, 2020 7:22 pm
Related Forum: PC Gaming Forum

Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/world-of-warcraft-shadowlands-pc-sales/