Warcraft is a video game franchise owned by Blizzard that debuted in 1994. The franchise consists of strategy games and role-playing games. As of 2017, the Warcraft franchise has sold 70 million software units worldwide. In terms of revenue, the franchise has grossed an estimated $15 billion, including over $14 billion from video games and over $400 million from the film adaptation.
Franchise[]
Note: See sections below for breakdown of sales and revenue estimates.
| Media | Debut year | Unit sales (est.) | Revenue (est.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Video games | 1994 | 70,000,000 | $14,862,000,000 |
| Film adaptation | 2016 | 87,494,765 | $456,544,167 |
| Total | 157,494,765 | $15,318,544,167 |
Video games[]
| Title | Year | Platform(s) | Unit sales | Revenue (est.) | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strategy games | 13,500,000 | $2,050,000,000 | |||
| Warcraft: Orcs & Humans | 1994 | Computers | 1,100,000 | $45,000,000 | [1] |
| Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness | 1995 | Multi-platform | 3,000,000 | $120,000,000 | [2][3] |
| Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos | 2002 | Computers | 4,400,000 | $190,000,000 | [4][5] |
| Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne / Gold Edition | 2003 | Computers | 5,000,000 | $95,000,000 | [1] |
| Hearthstone | 2014 | Multi-platform | — | $1,600,000,000 | [6][7] |
| Role-playing games | 56,500,000 | $12,812,000,000 | |||
| World of Warcraft | 2004 | Computers | 14,500,000 | $12,812,000,000 | [1] |
| World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade | 2007 | Computers | 42,000,000 | ||
| World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King | 2008 | Computers | |||
| World of Warcraft: Cataclysm | 2010 | Computers | |||
| World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria | 2012 | Computers | |||
| World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor | 2014 | Computers | |||
| World of Warcraft: Legion | 2016 | Computers | |||
| Total | 70,000,000 | $14,862,000,000 |
World of Warcraft[]
World of Warcraft (commonly known as WoW) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released on November 23, 2004. Its expansion, The Burning Crusade was released on January 16, 2007.
Revenue[]
| Year | Revenue | Ref |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | $35,000,000 | [8] |
| 2005 | $391,000,000 | |
| 2006 | $621,000,000 | [9] |
| 2007 | $1,024,000,000 | |
| 2008 | $1,152,000,000 | |
| 2009 | $1,248,000,000 | [10] |
| 2010 | $1,230,000,000 | |
| 2011 | $1,000,000,000 | [11] |
| 2012 | $986,000,000 | [12] |
| 2013 | $1,041,000,000 | [13] |
| 2014 | $728,000,000 | [14] |
| 2015 | $814,000,000 | [15] |
| 2017 | $600,000,000 | [16] |
| 2018 | $450,000,000 | |
| 2019 | $300,000,000 | [17] |
| 2020 | $400,000,000 | [18] |
| 2022 | $792,000,000 | [19] |
| Total | $12,812,000,000 |
Sales[]
World of Warcraft was the best-selling PC game of 2005 and 2006. By January 22, 2008, World of Warcraft had surpassed 10 million subscribers worldwide, with more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America, and about 5.5 million in Asia.
The Burning Crusade[]
The Burning Crusade expansion first expansion sold through nearly 2.4 million copies worldwide in its first 24 hours and 3.5 million in its first month - more than any other PC game in history had sold within an entire first month of availability.[1]
On January 28, 2008, Blizzard announced WoW had hit 10 million online subscribers. According to Blizzard, WoW now hosts more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America, and approximately 5.5 million in Asia.[2]
Wrath of the Lich King[]
Wrath of the Lich King sold 2.8 million copies in it's first 24 hours of availability. This makes it the fastest selling computer game of all time, beating the record set by the previous World of Warcraft expansion The Burning Crusade, which sold 2.4 million within its first 24 hours.[3]
Film adaptation[]
| Film | Year | Media | Unit sales (est.) | Gross revenue | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warcraft | 2016 | Box office | 86,900,000 | $439,048,914 | [20][21] |
| Home video | 594,765 | $17,495,253 | [22] | ||
| Total | 87,494,765 | $456,544,167 | |||
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Blizzard Entertainment Statistics". Statistic Brain. 2017-09-01. Archived from the original on 2017-10-17. Retrieved 2025-12-01.
- ↑ "10th Anniversary Feature". Blizzard. February 5, 2001. Frank: Warcraft!. Archived from the original on April 2, 2002. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
- ↑ "Player Stats: Top 10 Best-Selling Games, 1993 – Present" (PDF). Computer Gaming World. No. 170. September 1998. p. 52.
- ↑ Bramwell, Tom (January 5, 2004). "WarCraft III tops 1m sales in Europe". Eurogamer. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
- ↑ "Blizzard Entertainment - Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Blizzard Entertainment". Reference for Business. 11 November 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
- ↑ "Eight $1B+ Franchises Across Our Portfolio of Primarily Owned IP". Activision Blizzard. August 3, 2017.
- ↑ Deaux, Joe (July 7, 2019). "Move Over Monopoly: Hasbro's Next Big Growth Engine Is Magic". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
- ↑ "Annual Report 2005". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Vivendi Universal. 2006. p. 142. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
- ↑ "2008 Annual Report". Activision. Activision Blizzard. 2009. p. 17. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
- ↑ "2010 Annual Report". Activision. Activision Blizzard. 2011. p. 15. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
- ↑ Peterson, Steve (October 3, 2012). "Game Industry Legends: Rob Pardo". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
- ↑ "2012 Annual Report". Activision. Activision Blizzard. 2013. pp. 13–4. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
- ↑ Pereira, Chris (July 18, 2014). "WoW Was the Top Subscription MMO in 2013, Star Wars: The Old Republic #4". GameSpot. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
- ↑ "Hearthstone, Dota 2 can't compete with League of Legends in terms of player spending". VentureBeat. October 23, 2014.
- ↑ DiChristopher, Tom (January 26, 2016). "Digital gaming sales hit record $61B: Report". CNBC.
- ↑ Special Report: Evolution of Mobile Esports for the Mass Market (PDF). Niko Partners. August 2019. p. 18. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
- ↑ "2019 Year In Review: Digital Games and Interactive Media" (PDF). SuperData Research. Nielsen Media Research. January 2, 2020. Archived from the original on April 9, 2020. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
- ↑ "Games and interactive media earnings rose 12% to $139.9B in 2020" (PDF). SuperData Research. Nielsen Company. 6 January 2021. Archived from the original on 6 January 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
- ↑ https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/10/lawful-neutral-reverse-engineering-world-of-warcrafts-subscriber-numbers/
- ↑ "Warcraft (2016)". Salty Popcorn. Retrieved 2025-12-10."Warcraft (2016)". Salty Popcorn. Retrieved 2025-12-10.
- ↑ "Warcraft (2016)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on January 29, 2017. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
- ↑ "Warcraft (2016)". The Numbers. Retrieved 2025-12-10."Warcraft (2016)". The Numbers. Retrieved 2025-12-10.