Huge Shock of the Day: StarCraft II becomes fastest-selling strategy game ever

The tactical strategy role-playing game that PC gamers had been dreaming about for more than a decade sold more than a million copies in less time than it would take to give Larry King a botox injection.

StarCraft II publisher Blizzard announced today that sales of the new PC title eclipsed one million units almost instantly, within the first 24 hours of availability, and continued to sell strong. It reached 1.5 million copies sold within 48 hours.

According to Blizzard's "internal research," that makes it the fastest-selling strategy game of all time. Leading games retailer GameStop also reported that StarCraft II outsold World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King to become its fastest-selling PC game of all time. More than 3,000 GameStop locations held midnight openings for the July 27 launch, and for many PC gamers it provided an actual reason to go outside in the summer (self-directed zing!).

Above: Still unknown: How many people shelled out $100 for this massive Collector%26rsquo;s Edition bundle

The original StarCraft came out on PC in 1998 and has since sold more than 11 million copies worldwide. What's more impressive, though, is the large community of gamers who continued to play the game for over a decade with only an occasional expansion pack to mix up the experience. Sure, some may call them hopeless geeks but at least they show some dedication.

Though it never earned the acclaim that fellow online behemoth World of Warcraft did, Starcraft has remained one of the most revered real-time strategy games ever released. Work on a sequel had been underway for more than five years.

With a completely overhauled 3D engine, 29 brand new single-player campaign missions, and a veritable army of new combat units to tinker with, those 1.5 million gamers are feeling pretty stoked right now.

Aug 3, 2010

So it's been 10 years since you played Starcraft? Better check out our walkthrough

Check out the updates from our interoffice tournament as we celebrate the release of StarCraft II

How to master the fine art of not winning in the closed multiplayer beta