One Million Concurrent WoW Players In China

The9 Limited, the operators of World of Warcraft in China, has announced that they recently achieved a peak of one million players online at the same time. That's not the fudgy sort of numbers you get for subscribers either - that is one million World of Warcraft accounts online and playing at one time. That's the biggest number they've seen since the game launched there back in 2005. Of course there are 1.3 billion or so people living in China, so a million is just a drop in a bucket, but that's a very big drop in a absolutely gigantic bucket. To put things in perspective, if a million people stood on your head, your skull would be completely crushed. Them's skull-crushing numbers right there, and before you go blaming gold farming, keep in mind that these are Chinese servers, not people accessing servers outside of the country, so nya.

World of Warcraft Hits Record One Million Concurrent Chinese Players [GameDaily]

Ubisoft Pwns Bratz Producers For $13 Million

MGA Entertainment, the owners of the Underage Slutz Bratz brand of toys just discovered the hard way not to try and jerk Ubisoft around, to the tune of $13.4 million. Back in 2002 MGA and Ubisoft entered into an agreement to produce games based on the popular toy line. In 2003, overwhelmed by the massive, inexplicable success of the toys, MGA sought to force a renegotiation by terminating the original contract groundlessly, calling into question every aspect of Ubisoft's handling of the license in the process. Ubisoft wouldn't back down, MGA sued, and Ubi countersued for breach of contract. The Greenberg Glusker law firm stepped up to bat for Ubisoft.

"Our relationship with Ubisoft went far beyond the normal lawyer-client relationship," said Smith, who chairs Greenberg Glusker's Litigation Group and who was lead counsel in the matter. "We effectively became an extension of our client, learning everything about Ubisoft's business from its most senior management."

I remember back when Nintendo first announced the DS. How we laughed and jeered. Two screens? What a stupid idea! Well now that stupid idea has been proven not so stupid over 50 million times. Selling a hundred times better than your average hotcake, Nintendo's handheld gamble has paid off big time. In contrast, it took them 11 years to sell 100 million Gameboys, so as PC World points out, the DS should easily surpass that if momentum continues. Huge numbers, but it still means that only .07% of the world population owns a Nintendo DS, so pick up the pace, slackers! Bossangoa needs their Pokemon!

Nintendo DS Sales Pass 50 Million [PC World]

The Biggest Entertainment Launch In History

Bob McKenzie, Senior Vice President of Merchandising for GameStop Corp commented that, "With consumer demand for Halo 3 and related products, we expect it to be the biggest video game title generator in GameStop's history."

Sega Predicts 4 Million For Mario and Sonic

Sega is counting on the Wii rekindling of a 16-year old rivalry will match the sales of the first shot fired in the Mario VS Sonic war back in 1991. The original Sonic The Hedgehog sold 4 million copies, and Sega's Masanao Maeda says Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games will do the same. The corporate director at Sega's gaming unit made the statement at the Tokyo Games Show yesterday. Considering the number of Wii systems already in gamers' hands and the fact that this is one title that people will buy to see Sonic and Mario in the same place no matter how good or bad it turns out to be, I'd have to say that it's a realistic goal. Hell, Sonic Heroes alone sold a million copies in Europe, and it completely sucked. If that many people will buy crap with Sonic's name on it, adding Mario to the mix should get them 4 million easy.

Sega Sammy Says Sonic and Mario Game Sales May Reach 4 Million [Bloomberg via Next Generation]

Guild Wars Sells 4 Million

"Four million units sold is an impressive number and demonstrates that Guild Wars is a proven franchise," said Bob McKenzie, Senior Vice President of Merchandising, GameStop Corporation. "The Guild Wars franchise delivers an outstanding gaming experience and is clearly an important part of our PC games offerings."

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Gears of War Sells 3 Million

"Like blockbuster titles from Microsoft's Halo franchise and the Grand Theft Auto and Zelda franchises, Gears of War is tracking to be one of the best-selling video games of all time and has established itself as the most successful new IP of the next generation," said Jeff Bell, corporate vice president of Global Marketing, Interactive Entertainment Business Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft Corp.

Guild Wars Holiday Draws Massive Numbers