FIFA 13 sells 353,000 copies in first 24 hours in North America

In its first 24 hours on sale in North America, FIFA Soccer 13 sold 353,000 copies which, according to EA Sports, is a 42% increase over last year's FIFA 12.

With the sales boost, the amount of online games played also increased. In the first 24 hours, 1.4 million online games were played, a 35% year-over-year increase.

The iOS version of the game also performed well, marking the "biggest global launch-day performance of any iOS game in EA history".

The sales performance of FIFA 13 is more impressive when you take into account that Tuesday's launch was just in North America. The game is set to become available worldwide on Friday, and EA is expecting equally impressive numbers. For the first time in EA Sports' history, over 1.3 million games have been pre-ordered worldwide, which points "toward a historic opening when the game launches around the world on Friday."

"We're thrilled that fans throughout North America have embraced FIFA Soccer 13 in such a big way," said EA Sports Executive Vice President Andrew Wilson. "North Americans appreciate a great-playing game and their level of engagement with our game is helping to drive the sport's popularity in the United States."

FIFA 13 is available for PS3 with PlayStation Move support, Xbox 360 with Kinect, PS Vita, Nintendo Wii, PS2, Nintendo 3DS, and PSP. On November 18 it will release alongside the Wii U console.