Nearly 1 million Commander Shepards were activated in North America on Mass Effect 3's launch day. This is according to EA CEO John Riccitiello, who yesterday announced (via VentureBeat) that BioWare sold over 890,000 copies of its space faring sequel in the first 24-hours of its Western release.

Sharing Shepard's success with attendees at the Wedbush Technology, Media and Telecommunications Conference in New York, Riccitiello said EA felt “awfully good” about Mass Effect 3's debut, adding,"We anticipated it doing well, so we're happy."

He added 40% of players who picked up their copy from GameStop also laid down extra cash for Mass Effect 3 DLC, noting, “The tie ratio at the register is the highest in their history."

Turns out fans weren't all that furious with the “From Ashes” day-one DLC after all. And if they were, they had a funny way of teaching EA a lesson.

Mass Effect 3 was first released in North America on March 6 (earlier if you count the space drop promotion). Read our review to see why we think it's a fight worth joining, and increase your Galactic Readiness with our Mass Effect 3 walkthrough, weapons and armor guide, and planet scanning "how-to". Remember, it's the fate of universe we're talking about here – you can never be too prepared.