Activision has declared Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 the most successful entertainment launch of all time.
The Infinity Ward-developed shooter, released for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on Tuesday, shipped 6.5 million units and grossed $400 million in the US and UK alone in its first 24 hours on shelves, the publisher said.
If Activision's figures - provided by Charttrack and retailers - are correct this will be the third year in a row that the Call Of Duty series has broken the same record. Last year's Black Ops grossed $360 million on day one; in 2009, Modern Warfare 2 brought in $310 million.
CEO Bobby Kotick said: "There has never been another entertainment franchise that has set opening-day records three years in a row. Life-to-date sales for the franchise exceed worldwide theatrical box office for Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings, two of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time."
Activision also said it had donated $3 million to the Call Of Duty Endowment, the nonprofit corporation it set up to help veterans adjust to civilian life through training and work placements.
Comments
7This is nonsense. This is like comparing apples and oranges. A cinema ticket costs a fraction of the RRP of a game such as Modern Warfare 3.
Not sure what it is exactly, but something within my soul takes umbridge at the word "entertainment" being followed by the word "franchise"...
/dies a little inside
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What amazes me is how many CoD fans fall back on the sales argument to try and justify that its a better game than the other shooters out there. Sales just shows they had good marketing theres a long way to go yet in the battle for the FPS crown. Also not forgetting the fact that probably quite a few million of those sales were £25 supermarket buys.
We'll see a few months down the line how many copies theyve had traded in compared to other games or how MW3 and its other competition like Halo and Battlefield each handle their community, patches, playlists and DLC and how long people play them before they get bored or are fed up with balance issues or exploits. From what Ive played so far MW3 will drop out of the race early.
MW3 will never be remembered in the same way Star Wars or Lord Of The Rings will and its success will never last as long. CoDs still a long long way off being as big as either of those franchises. This is just Kotick trying to keep the hype rolling.
I doubt MW3 will be remembered like that, but the Modern Warfare series will be remembered as the most successful gaming franchise of this generation. Everyone is hating on this series and saying that the people who like it are lying, or don't know what they are talking about, but then WHO is buying this game? 6 million! For a video game thats an incredible number especially day-one buyers. If you continuously complain about CoD and the games that came before just stop buying it. It won't change drastically. Its like buying guitar hero every year even though you claim to hate it, just hoping it will get better, WTF thats no way to go about doing things!
Not directed at you Goat but just at the majority of complainers in general.
This sort of news makes me feel very uncomfortable. I can't explain exactly why though, but I think it is that a war simulation and specifically a franchise of one, sells so well, overshadowing every other game out there. I just don't like that the fastest selling (probably soon to be the highest selling) game out there isn't something a little more... positive.
Also, the fact that the game sells based on its name, not on its quality; although it probably is a brilliant game with the amount of money thrown at it, but there are also other equally good games out there. So I feel for smaller developers that try damned hard and end up feeling like they are getting Activision's scraps.
I also think that the Modern Warfare games have simply become a part of our culture too and that is probably the key reason for its success. I couldn't give my opinion why though, as I haven't a clue.
I think we all need to just accept that people like MW3.
Yeah It's not the most artistic or boundary pushing franchise but people like it and thats that.
However people also like Britney Spears, Ginster's Pasties and Twilight.