Burning Crusade sells 2.4 million in a day

Last week, thousands turned up to midnight launch events around the world to get their hands on The Burning Crusade, the highly anticipated expansion pack for the massively successful online game World of Warcraft. At the Oxford Street HMV store in London, approximately 3,000 people, some in home-made outfits, formed a massive queue around the block.

Of World of Warcraft's current 8 million worldwide subscribers, 2.4 million bought the expansion pack the first day it was available. According to Blizzard, that makes it the fastest-selling PC title of all time in the UK and Europe. In a statement, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime modestly commented that "The Burning Crusade has already exceeded even our most ambitious expectations."

In the US, 1.2 million of the 2 million WoW players snagged The Burning Crusade in the first 24 hours after it went on sale. In Europe, more than 1.1 million copies were sold -- meaning that 73 per cent of the 1.5 million WoW players in the region now own the expansion. Blizzard said 1.7 million players had already logged into The Burning Crusade within 24 hours of its release, with one French gamer reportedly hitting the new level cap of 70 within 28 hours.

The Burning Crusade debuted at number one in the UK all-formats chart, although it narrowly missed becoming the fastest-selling PC game in the UK ever, according to Chart-Track -- that honour is still held by football management game Championship Manager 4. US PC sales numbers for the week will not be available until next week.