Mists of Pandaria Sells 2.7 Million in First Week

The sales numbers for Blizzard’s latest World of Warcraft are in, and while Mists of Pandaria certainly managed some impressive-sounding numbers, the reality is a bit more troubling for the franchise’s longevity. In the first week of its release, Mists sold 2.7 million copies, while WoW’s last expansion, Cataclysm, had sold 3.3 million copies on its first day.

While 2.3 million sales in a week is certainly nothing to sneeze at, the disparity between this expansion and the last one points to a troubling trend that Blizzard’s been trying to fight: simply put, people are leaving World of Warcraft for greener pastures, whether they be other MMOs, or simply leaving MMOs behind entirely. The fact is, paid subscriptions to MMOs are down across the board, with many games switching to free-to-play models to keep their subscriber numbers as high as possible. And while World of Warcraft is still the big kahuna of MMOs, the lowered sales numbers prove that the popularity of the game is undoubtedly on the wane.

Even still, that hasn’t stopped Blizzard’s bosses from claiming a victory with their latest expansion. Here’s what Blizzard CEO and cofounder Mike Morhaime had to say in a press release published today:

“With Mists of Pandaria, we set out to expand on the sense of fun and discovery that’s always been at the heart of World of Warcraft—in addition to adding a huge variety of new content and features to the game. It’s been gratifying to see the results of all of the work we put into this expansion and to hear all of the positive feedback from players so far.”

I know Lawrence has been fighting like a Kung Fu Panda since the expansion came out. Anyone else out there getting all up to magic and bamboo chewing?

Via Business Wire