3.3m sales in 24 hours for Cataclysm

The latest World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm, has achieved a new sales milestone for Blizzard - reaching 3.3 million within 24 hours.

This makes Cataclysm the fastest-selling PC game of all time, claims Blizzard. Cataclysm has significantly outpaced its predecessor, 2008's Wrath of the Lich King, which accrued 2.8 million copies in its first day.

While Cataclysm placed a mere third in the UK retail charts in its first week, Blizzard's sales figures shine some light on the contribution of download purchases to the MMO add-on's success.

We had to bring Azeroth to the brink of destruction in Cataclysm, but the result was our best expansion yet," said Mike Morhaime, Blizzard CEO.

"We want to thank all of our new, existing, and returning players throughout the world for their incredible enthusiasm and support, and we look forward to hearing what they think about all the new content."

Blizzard also claims that over 15,000 players attended launch events in 10,000 stores across the globe.