Irvine-based online game developer Blizzard Entertainment Inc. said it shattered sales records with last week’s release of its latest game, “StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.”
The game, which went on sale July 27, sold 1 million copies within the first 24 hours, making it the best-selling PC game of 2010, the company said.
It went on to sell a total of more than 1.5 million copies in its first 48 hours, setting the record for fastest-selling game of its type.
“StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty” was released in stores simultaneously in North America, Europe, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, the company said.
“We launched ‘StarCraft’ II in 11 different languages and on five different continents,” Chief Executive Mike Morhaime said in a statement. “We’re pleased that so many people around the world have already picked up a copy of the game.”
Blizzard developers were on hand at several midnight launches to meet fans and sign copies of the game.
Blizzard sees around $1.3 billion in yearly sales.
It’s part of Santa Monica’s Activision Blizzard Inc., which is publicly traded and had a recent market value of $14 billion.
“StarCraft II” comes at a critical time for Activision Blizzard, itself a unit of France’s Vivendi SA.
Activision is in a bit of a lull between releases of new games from a few of its blockbuster video game titles, “Guitar Hero, “Call of Duty” and “Tony Hawk.”
“StarCraft II” is a sequel to 1998’s “StarCraft” that was five years in the making.
“StarCraft II” is what’s known in the industry as a real-time strategy game in which three races—the “protoss,” “terrans” and “zerg”—face off in a science-fiction world.
The game is split into three installments. The first installment, to be released this week, is dubbed “Wings of Liberty.” Two expansion packs are due out in the next few years with the titles “Heart of the Swarm” and “Legacy of the Void.”
“StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty” sells in stores for about $60 a pop. A special collector’s edition goes for $100.
Analysts had high hopes for “StarCraft II.”
Wedbush Securities LLC analyst Michael Pachter said last year he expects Blizzard initially to sell about 5 million copies of “StarCraft II” and a total of roughly 10 million copies over time.
