Battle for Azeroth is the fastest-selling World of Warcraft expansion

World of Warcraft's latest expansion, Battle for Azeroth, has just over a week under its Azerite belt after what seems to have been a successful launch. In fact, Blizzard is reporting it as the fastest-selling expansion ever released.

Battle for Azeroth's launch last week sold over 3.4 million day-one copies globally. Blizzard points out that it makes it one of the fastest-selling PC games to date, though it doesn't quite reach the heights of the company's other PC monster, Diablo III, which sold 3.5 million day-one copies in 2012.

The previous expansion, Legion, matched past launch-day records at 3.3 million day-one copies sold. It also saw the highest launch-week concurrent players since Cataclysm's launch in 2010. The Battle for Azeroth press release does not mention concurrent player numbers.

It's possible that the numbers may have been aided by Blizzard's recent decision to make the base game free-with-subscription, allowing new players to pick up the new content for only the price of the expansion and a monthly subscription rather than also having to purchase the remainder of the game's content for a flat fee.

"Battle for Azeroth is a definitive chapter in the Horde and Alliance conflict at the heart of Warcraft, and it's been thrilling to see players representing their factions in record numbers and embarking on their war campaigns-not to mention joining in ourselves," said CEO Mike Morhaime. "But the launch is just the beginning of this conflict. More epic content is coming to World of Warcraft in the weeks ahead, and we can't wait for players to experience the full story as it unfolds over the course of the expansion."