WotLK breaks internal records at EB Games
by Mike Schramm 
Nov 28th 2008 at 1:00PM
One of our secret correspondents inside an EB Games store forwarded us this picture of an internal email sent out to the videogame retail company, saying that not only was the week of WotLK's launch the biggest sales week of the year, but it was the biggest week ever outside of last year's Christmas sales, and the biggest launch the chain has ever had. Additionally, at EB Games, Wrath was the highest presale ever, the highest single-format (which means PC/Mac only) week one sales (in just two days), and the highest day one sales of any game ever, multiformat or otherwise.
Pretty incredible. EB Games isn't a small company by any means, and while we knew Wrath was big, it looks like Blizzard's second WoW expansion smashed pretty much every sequel it could in the chain, even toppling some of the console gaming records. Anyone that claimed World of Warcraft had peaked with Burning Crusade should be looking pretty foolish at this point.
We'll have to see where Blizzard goes from here -- there's no doubt that one reason Wrath was so popular out of the gate was that it returned to the "core" of Warcraft III: the story of Arthas and the Scourge. Can Blizzard replicate that with another expansion, no matter what the setting?
Pretty incredible. EB Games isn't a small company by any means, and while we knew Wrath was big, it looks like Blizzard's second WoW expansion smashed pretty much every sequel it could in the chain, even toppling some of the console gaming records. Anyone that claimed World of Warcraft had peaked with Burning Crusade should be looking pretty foolish at this point.
We'll have to see where Blizzard goes from here -- there's no doubt that one reason Wrath was so popular out of the gate was that it returned to the "core" of Warcraft III: the story of Arthas and the Scourge. Can Blizzard replicate that with another expansion, no matter what the setting?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Vassal Nov 28th 2008 1:04PM
Awesome.
Bookhouse88 Nov 28th 2008 1:11PM
I'm going to go with the popular notion that the next expansion will focus on the Great Sea... Kazan, Queen Azshara, naga, goblins, murlocs, Gilneas, Kul Tiras, Tel Abim, pirates, all that.
Although those settings and themes don't have one single character that is quite as popular as Arthas, I think that the tropical and/or oceanic settings are a good natural next step for the game, and will be well received, especially if the expansion also includes something on the order of a new class(es) or races, which I would imagine is highly likely. So, yes, Blizzard can and probably will repeat the success of Wrath.
Firestride Nov 28th 2008 1:43PM
I'd rather see the Emerald Dream than the Great Sea. And how long can Blizzard leave those portals there without them taking you someplace?
Charneldeath Nov 28th 2008 2:22PM
Ya cause Druid nightmares are worthy of a whole xpac.
Jack Spicer Nov 28th 2008 3:58PM
If the next expansion is a Maelstrom/High Seas expansion, Blizzard will definitely have to up its game as far as weaving an engrossing story that doesn't rely heavily on established characters. It'll be their biggest test so far in creating new lore within WoW.
As far as the Emerald Dream goes, the previous replier should spend some time on Wowikki. Its called Emerald "Dream" but that doesn't mean it its just someone's nightmare. Its how Azeroth would have been had no sentient race interfered - so for example, no destroying of the moonwell which sundered the continent into Northrend, Eastern Kalimdor, and Azeroth. I think that there is a lot there to work with.
Spoonman Nov 28th 2008 1:20PM
And yet to this date for some odd reason Gamespot hasn't reviewed Wotlk...
svenhoek Nov 28th 2008 5:01PM
Gamespot is dead. Who cares what they do anymore?
Einhanderkiller Nov 29th 2008 8:30PM
The review is coming this week.
Here's a blog post by the reviewer:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/blogs/review-blog/909185210/26686804/work-in-progress-wrath-of-the-lich-king.html
jam Nov 28th 2008 1:28PM
"We'll have to see where Blizzard goes from here -- there's no doubt that one reason Wrath was so popular out of the gate was that it returned to the "core" of Warcraft III: the story of Arthas and the Scourge. Can Blizzard replicate that with another expansion, no matter what the setting?"
This is something I've been thinking about, too.
I think they should introduce some new area, plus plenty of interesting new and returning characters in Warcraft IV just for this purpose.
It's pretty much certain that WC 4 will come out, but will it come out in time, well before the next expansion? That seems doubtful.
ZuWho Nov 28th 2008 1:36PM
As I see it, any exspantion after Wrath would be anti climatic, unless they had a huge build up to it during the later half of Wrath's raiding, like we find out about other Old gods and Deathwing are doing somthing, and it has somthing to do with lazors and the moon.
Alternativly, they'll do somthing diffrent, not just have us go to a diffrent conternet again,
but somthing original, like they let the time line gain 5 years, and we see what Killing the residents of Black rock; the Lords of Outland; the leader of the burning legoin; some dragons and Titain-y things; and the scourge has done to Azeroth.
Possibly using the phasing trick to have our beloved old world change and morph as we level to 90, developing a compeling story, the likes of which unseen on the MMO playing feild.
I wouldn't hesitate subcribing to that, but the problem is the old world was never built with that in mind. Ah well, a Who can dream...
Firestride Nov 28th 2008 1:46PM
To do that they'd have to open up the Old World to flying mounts. And we all know how monumental a task that would be.
"Magic shield around Hyjal, fatigue over deep water, and make sure drawn mountains are actually solid."
"That'll take us forever!"
steve Nov 28th 2008 4:26PM
ebgames=gamestop, I'm not sure why that wasn't mentioned...
Laynne Nov 28th 2008 1:56PM
I preordered mine from EB Games and picked it up the first day. From what I saw they had a lot left (a guy was boxing a bunch of them up), but apparently they had sold even more than that. They suckered me into a deal though...for an extra $5 I got a bookmark, a poster, and one of their discount cards, and I had a chance to win an Arthas cardboard cutout and a wotlk banner. I know it doesn't seem like a good deal but...it's Arthas, I had to.
fig Nov 28th 2008 2:07PM
no matter what the sales figures of wotlk is vannila and tbc has to have sold more copies as it is necesary to have both in order to install wrath. Plus there are man people that stoped playing wow and than came back(like me) buying new copies as well as those that used to play and now are playing different games or the total deserters of the ganre. what are the nummbers on those?
Arktic Nov 28th 2008 2:22PM
Look ar the records they are claiming:
Highest PRE-SALE ever
Highest single-format WEEK ONE sales
Highest ONE DAY sales of any game
They aren't claiming that WotLK is the highest selling game ever, just that it is in a set amount of time. All it's saying is that the current subscribers wanting to progress their characters are higher now than at the beginning of The Burning Crusade, and also at the beginning of WoW. This is understandable as WoW has grown in popularity since it's original launch. Of course WotLK numbers can never be larger than the Vanilla or tBC, but it can get there faster, which was the point of this article.
darb2k Nov 28th 2008 2:19PM
No wonder its a huge success. They were charging $10 more then everywhere else. Greedy bastards.
TD Nov 28th 2008 2:55PM
I think that it can be pulled off in my opinion. As many people my or may not agree, the first game really broke the shell of what could and couldn't be done. A large amount of new content was introduced with the MMO that just wasn't there before and I do mean a large amount. I can't wait to get through all the new content and see where this story line goes. If I have read correctly even illidan can make a return as he merely flies off rather than dying. What would be interesting is to see the old gods return in all their might or for that matter the titan's themselves. If, according to all the lore I have read, the titans had something go wrong and they had to return to fix the time line, or something, anything. So much lore exists that there is no end to where it could all go. Hell something could happen and we end up with a 3rd new faction where we leave our old one behind or god knows what! All I know is I don't see an end to what is currently out there.
Flint Nov 28th 2008 2:58PM
Don't really care about the setting, but it's about time the Old Gods are given the forefront in the lore for a while instead of pushed into one-zone things.
Although, as everyone knows, the most important thing in the next expansion is Furbolg joining Alliance.
Jack Spicer Nov 28th 2008 4:00PM
Goblins and Pandaren ftw!
TD Nov 28th 2008 3:06PM
Arktic you are quite right. The numbers most likely will increase very quickly over the next year or so. The way the game has gotten getting to 80 is not nearly as hard as it was to get to 70 and way easier than getting to 60 esp with the advent of less exp required and more exp given per quest turned in. Grant it I was playing 2 accounts at once, with that said, a level 1 warrior only took me something like 2 or 3 weeks wiht only like 2 hours of play a day on average and sometimes less to get to 55 alone. Now if you had a friend playing they could get you to 55 quickly, you could then buy BC and WOLK and simply get yourself a DK and get to 80 in one quick hurry for sure.