Blizzard Entertainment launched World of Warcraft's eighth expansion, Shadowlands, on November 23. Players have been busy exploring Azeroth's version of the afterlife ever since, taking on new quests and dungeons to find rare loot and grind their World of Warcraft characters to level 60, the new cap. There are more people playing out these new scenarios than the game has seen in years, according to Activision Blizzard, after the MMORPG reportedly hit a new sales milestone.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is the fastest-selling PC game of all time, Activision Blizzard Investor Relations reported in a press release today. In its first full day on the market, Shadowlands sold more than 3.7 million units worldwide, beating the first-day record set by Blizzard's Diablo 3 in 2012. At the same time, more players are subscribed to the game than have been "following any WoW expansion in the past decade."
All-and-all, total World of Warcraft player time has "nearly doubled" compared to a similar period of time last year, though the exact metric used is not specified in this press release. The popular developer expects this attention will be maintained for the weeks and months ahead due to the launch of Shadowlands' first raid, Castle Nathria; its Mythic Keystone dungeons; and the upcoming rated PvP season.
World of Warcraft released in 2004, and has been a cornerstone of the video game industry and popular culture as a whole ever since. The continual addition of content such as Legendary Armor to upgrade in Shadowlands and in prior expansions has given fans reason to stay invested, even if some of those expansions have been more popular than others.
Blizzard recognizes that some fans are more interested in returning to an older, simpler time in World of Warcraft's existence, and released a classic version of the game to facilitate that. World of Warcraft Classic recently added the Naxxramas Raid, considered to be the most difficult challenge prior to the MMO's first expansion, Burning Crusade. The raid requires 40 players to tackle.
Regardless of whether players are taking on Castle Nathria or Naxxramas, clearly Blizzard Entertainment's online game continues to resonate with many around the world. The high player count reported by Activision Blizzard Investor Relations suggests World of Warcraft's Shadowlands expansion may be a return to form for the MMO, and its likely fans can expect to learn more about what's coming next during the online-only BlizzCon early next year.
World of Warcraft is available now on PC.
Source: Activision Blizzard