World of Warcraft: Legion sells more than 3.3 million copies in 24 hours

World of Warcraft: Legion has been out for a week now, it's really good, and it turns out that it's also a big hit. Blizzard announced today that more than 3.3 million copies of the expansion were sold in its first full day of release, not quite exceeding but matching the first-day sales record set by previous expansions. It also drove World of Warcraft's “launch week player concurrency” to its highest point since the release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm in 2010.

"It's been a thrill to see players hunting demons, powering up Artifacts, and freely exploring all the new zones in Legion," Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime said. "We worked hard to make this the best World of Warcraft expansion yet, and we look forward to providing players with even more content as Legion's epic story unfolds in the months ahead."

Bear in mind that concurrent player count is not the same as total player count or subscriber numbers, which we presumably will not be hearing about, since Blizzard decided last year to stop reporting them. It's fair to assume that the peak player count will enjoy a big boost, though, as it did following the release of the Warlords of Draenor expansion—which, coincidentally or not, also moved 3.3 million copies in its first 24 hours.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.