WoW Makes EQ It's Bitch

Triggar · 2004-12-02, 08:59 AM

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2004/Dec/1098177.htm

IRVINE, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- Dec. 1, 2004 -- Blizzard's Newest Title Becomes North America's Fastest-Selling PC Game Ever, with Record Number of Accounts Created and Concurrent Players in First 24 Hours

Blizzard Entertainment(R) today confirmed that World of Warcraft(R) has broken day-one sales records in North America, making it the most successful PC game launch ever. World of Warcraft, the company's subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), sold through to over 240,000 customers at retailers in North America on Tuesday, November 23, selling more in its first 24 hours than any other PC game in history.(a)

In addition to shattering sales records, World of Warcraft also broke peak concurrency and account creation records for a MMORPG. Within the first day, over 200,000 players created World of Warcraft accounts. By 5:00 p.m. PST, over 100,000 were playing the game concurrently. These two record-breaking numbers made World of Warcraft the fastest-growing MMORPG in history. Within a single day, all original 40+ World of Warcraft servers were filled to capacity, and by the end of the Thanksgiving weekend, more than 40 additional servers were deployed to meet the rapidly growing player base, as the number of new accounts and concurrent users continued to grow.

"We were all extremely pleased with the success of World of Warcraft on its first day of launch," said Mike Morhaime, president of Blizzard Entertainment. "Once we saw the numbers for the first day, we knew that we had to immediately increase capacity to accommodate the huge numbers of players joining our game. We're glad so many people are enjoying World of Warcraft, and we are dedicated to supporting a fun and smooth game experience for everyone."

Retailers across North America reported that the World of Warcraft launch was unequivocally their biggest day-one sales in PC gaming history. Leading industry retailers, such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy, EB, and GameStop, all reported that hundreds of their stores sold out of World of Warcraft within the first day.

"World of Warcraft has once again shown that Blizzard consistently delivers the best games in the industry," said Robert McKenzie, vice president of merchandising at GameStop. "It sold better than any other PC game this year -- in fact, World of Warcraft enjoyed the best day-one sell-through GameStop has ever seen on a PC title!"

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, players continued to buy World of Warcraft in record numbers, with a total of over 350,000(a) copies of the game selling through. Blizzard Entertainment and its retail partners expect the remaining supplies of World of Warcraft to sell out soon. Blizzard is currently evaluating its ability to ship additional games to retailers, given the unexpectedly high demand on the servers. The company continues to increase server capacity to accommodate the growing number of players connecting to the game. As the additional servers are brought online and proven stable, additional copies of World of Warcraft will be made available at retail. Blizzard will announce the availability of those additional games as soon as they are on shelves.

Ivan · 2004-12-02, 10:02 AM

There's only one way to go now, down.

MrVicchio · 2004-12-02, 10:10 AM

WoW is aimed at a different market then EQII.

WoW is easy play, EQII is more in depth play.

Which do you think is gonna sell more copies?

Ivan · 2004-12-02, 10:16 AM

Originally Posted by MrVicchio

WoW is aimed at a different market then EQII.

WoW is easy play, EQII is more in depth play.

Which do you think is gonna sell more copies?

Ummm the one with hotter elves?

I don't know. I suck at pop quizzes!

Squeeky · 2004-12-02, 10:20 AM

Fscking awesome

Sputty · 2004-12-02, 11:05 AM

Originally Posted by MrVicchio

WoW is aimed at a different market then EQII.

WoW is easy play, EQII is more in depth play.

Which do you think is gonna sell more copies?

Indepth = more bugs and problems?

Everay · 2004-12-02, 11:14 AM

100,000 % S(how many servers are there?)

Eve holds the record for people on 1 server, 12,250.

Strygun · 2004-12-02, 11:30 AM

I hate to say it but, I'm definatly going to:

TOLD YA SO!

...btw, 1 day old. but good post.

MrVicchio · 2004-12-02, 11:32 AM

I played the WoW beta and I am playing EQII.

EQII doesn't have many bugs, and the most annoying that I DID know of, dissappearing NPC's is fixed.

WoW is a decent game, its just less comlicated then EQII.

WoW has 3 things over EQII.

Crafting system (EQII has a seriously conveluted system)

PvP (I like PvP but its not a make or break situation for me.)

Warcraft Setting.

EQII Has three things over WoW

Depth

Graphics (I like EQII's over WoW when it's all said and done)

Deeper GamePlay

Both games have pro's and con's.

Salazar · 2004-12-02, 11:37 AM

Gamespot gave WoW 9.5
Gamespot gave EQII 7.8

EarlyDawn · 2004-12-02, 11:41 AM

Good to see.

The difference between WoW and EQII is that EQII feels like work. With WoW, I'm actually enjoying myself.

You can have all the deep gameplay mechanics you want, but if its not fun to play, it dosen't mean a thing. Besides, WoW can start implementing deep systems once the server issues are worked out.

oddfish · 2004-12-02, 11:49 AM

I played WoW at my uncle's house the other night using my friend, kyle's account. He's a Warlock, human. It's sick. One of the most fun games I've ever played over teh interweb. I mean, it was just amazing how much there was to do ALL the time. Always little fights and little tasks to perform. You always feel like you're playing the game, not walking around doing nothing and just looking at stuff. It's great. And, as far as easy is concerned: i wouldn't say EASY per se, i'd use the term Accessible. it's more Accessible.