Blizzard said that around 1.2 million copies of the expansion sold in North America on day one, representing over half of the estimated 2 million-plus North American World of Warcraft players.
The original base World of Warcraft, released in November 2004, had also held the day-one PC game sales record at one point in North America with a relatively skimpy 240,000 units sold in its first 24 hours of availability.
The new release sold 1.1 million units in Europe, where there are over 1.5 million World of Warcraft players.
Blizzard added that by the end of the first day of the game’s availability, 1.7 million players had logged in to play The Burning Crusade.
The title launched in North America, Europe, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia on January 16, and launched in Australia and New Zealand on January 17.
Blizzard said that it had supplied over 4 million copies to retailers worldwide. The game retails for $39.99 in the US.
CEO Mike Morhaime commented, “The Burning Crusade has already exceeded even our most ambitious expectations.”