Author: by Staff

Blizzard's World Of Warcraft has sold a spectacular 8.6 million copies to date, according to NPD data provided to Gamasutra. Following the revelation that The Sims 3 sold more than 800,000 copies in its first month at U.S. retail, Gamasutra followed up with NPD to find out how well WoW -- perhaps the only retail competitor to The Sims series over the past few years -- has fared. The NPD Group rolled up multiple SKUs of the massively popular PC online game and its expansion packs since its November 2004 launch to arrive at the 8.6 million figure. No information on average sale price across all versions was provided. But presuming $30 for each unit sold (the core game currently retails at $19.95; expansion packs and compilations for as much as $39.95), it amounts to as much as $258 million total from U.S. retail alone. The statistics provided by NPD included the base World of Warcraft, plus the Collectors Edition version, the expansion pack-bundling Battle Chest, and the two standalone expansions: The Burning Crusade and Wrath Of The Lich King. Although the operator transition in China is likely to have diminished the userbase somewhat, Activision Blizzard's most recently-announced total of 11.5 million subscribers is the company's main moneyspinner. Millions in the West pay $15 a month to play the game, which means hundred of millions of dollars yearly for Blizzard. World of Warcraft shows no signs of losing its massive lead in the subscription MMO market in the near future.