World of Warcraft: Shadowlands becomes fastest selling PC game of all time, while CP programme also reports growth.
Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft franchise is ending 2020 on a high note, with its hotly tipped eighth expansion – Shadowlands – becoming the fastest selling PC game of all time, while the consumer products programme is also enjoying success.
The company confirmed earlier this month that as of the first full day of Shadowlands’ launch (November 23), more than 3.7 million units had sold through globally, making it the fastest selling PC game of all time globally.
The previous record holder – Blizzard’s own Diablo III – sold through more than 3.5 million copies as of its first day of release.
World of Warcraft is continuing to see strong engagement from the global community franchise-wide, too. In the months leading up to the expansion’s release and the time since launch, the game reached and sustained its highest number of players on monthly or longer term subscriptions compared to the same period ahead of or following any WoW expansion in the past decade, in both the west and the east.
Players have spent more time in Azeroth year to date than in the same period of any of the last ten years, while total player time in game this year to date has nearly doubled compared to the same period last year.
This success is also expanding into physical products. The WoW brand has grown into the fast fashion retail space with successes at Pull&Bear – notably, the collection sold out online within two weeks of launch – as well as the launch into Russia with Tvoe.
In addition, partners including Logitech and Secret Labs have seen high take up for gaming accessories such as the latter’s Alliance and Horde Edition chairs, while the board game partnership with Asmodee is going from strength to strength.
And the Activision Blizzard Consumer Products Group is keen to expand the WoW franchise – along with other Activision and Blizzard franchises – into other CP areas, too, with this being a key focus for 2021. Any enquiries should go to consumerproductsinfo@activision.com.
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