WoW: Cataclysm Sales Spark Hiring Spree At Blizzard

Blizzard Entertainment said Tuesday that it sold more than 4.7 million copies of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm during the game's first month on the market, setting the record for the most copies of a game sold within a 30-day period. Blizzard said the game's popularity has forced it to start hiring for "numerous open positions."

WoW: Cataclysm is an expansion pack for the wildly popular Warcraft massively multiplayer online role playing game. The game lets players assume the role of a character in a Tolkienesque world populated by knights, dragons, wizards, fairies, and other creatures. Blizzard officials said they credit Cataclysm's blockbuster sales to the numerous enhancements found in the expansion pack.

"We created thousands of new quests, introduced new lands to explore, and extensively revamped the game world for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, making it our biggest and most ambitious expansion yet," said Blizzard co-founder and CEO Mike Morhaime, in a statement.

Morhaime said even Blizzard was caught off guard by gamers' reaction to Cataclysm.

"We've been floored by the community's response so far, and we'd like to thank them for their continued passion and support for World of Warcraft, and for helping Cataclysm reach this incredible milestone," said Morhaime.

Blizzard said the WoW franchise currently has more than 12 million users playing some version of the game worldwide, giving it a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. "To keep pace with the continued growth of World of Warcraft as well as development of Blizzard Entertainment games, the company is currently hiring for numerous open positions," Blizzard said.

For work on current and future WoW games, Blizzard is looking for artists, level designers, software engineers, and technical writers, according to the company's Web site.