Once I get my new laptop I plan to spend some more time with World of Warcraft: Cataclysm and clearly I'm not the only one. Publisher Blizzard has announced that the third expansion for the game sold more than 3.3 million copies in its first 24 hours of release. This makes it the fastest-selling PC game of all time. Digital sales are included too - reflecting the changing face of PC games sales. Cataclysm beat the previous record - 2.8 million copies sold in 24 hours - held by previous expansion pack Wrath of the Lich King.
Of course, with over 12 million subscribers you would imagine this sales figure rising, especially if the radical changes to the original world tempt back curious lapsed players. Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime touches on this in his celebration:
We had to bring Azeroth to the brink of destruction in Cataclysm, but the result was our best expansion yet. We want to thank all of our new, existing, and returning players throughout the world for their incredible enthusiasm and support, and we look forward to hearing what they think about all the new content.
Mike, I'm sure the forums are giving you all the feedback you could ever want. Personally I'm more interested in what the less hardcore fans think of the latest expansion. Anecdotally I'm hearing that lapsed players are being tempted back to WoW by Cataclysm. I certainly am. But what about you?
