Call of Duty sets sales record
Last Updated: Friday, November 13, 2009 | 12:54 PM ET
The Associated Press
Gamers lined up to buy Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 at the Yonge and Dundas Best Buy store early Tuesday. (CBC)First-day sales of Activision Blizzard's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 broke records, raking in an estimated $310 million US in North America and the United Kingdom alone.
The video game went on sale around the world on Tuesday, but Activision provided figures Thursday only for North America and Britain. The company estimates it sold about 4.7 million copies of the game in the first 24 hours in those markets.
Activision called it "the biggest launch in history across all forms of entertainment."
By comparison, the final novel of the Harry Potter series — Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — sold 15 million copies worldwide (11 million in North America and U.K. alone) in its first 24 hours of release in July 2007. However, the book was discounted by many retailers and sold for less than the approximately $60 Cdn per unit for Call of Duty.
The latest instalment in the Call of Duty action franchise was expected to at least match last year's Grand Theft Auto IV, which was the most successful video-game release in history and at the time may have been the top entertainment launch ever.
That game, from Take-Two Interactive Software, had sold 3.6 million units on its opening day, worth $310 million worldwide. Call of Duty made that much in just North America and Britain.
The launch of Call of Duty also surpassed last year's box office record of $155 million US for the opening weekend of the Batman movie The Dark Knight.
Shares rise
Shares of Activision, which is based in Santa Monica, rose 23 cents, or two per cent, to $11.61 in morning trading Thursday.
Like the previous five Call of Duty games, which are all rated "M" for mature (not for kids under 17), this one lets players shoot their way through a complex series of scenes. The game's developer, Infinity Ward, spent two years creating realistic graphics that are amplified in many players' homes by big-screen, high-definition TVs sets and powerful speakers.
Players can fight one another, whether they're at the same game console or in separate locations and connected online. Or a player can dive in alone and get swept into the game, which includes jarring depictions of war and an intricate story of good versus evil.
The game sells for $60 and plays on Windows-based computers, Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3.
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- Everest victim's husband says family not seeking government help
- The husband of a Toronto woman who died trying to climb Mt. Everest on Saturday says his family is not seeking government help to cover the cost of bringing his wife's body home. more »
- B.C. premier unhappy with disgraced Mountie's transfer
- B.C. Premier Christy Clark says she is not happy with the RCMP decision to transfer a disgraced Alberta Mountie to the West Coast. more »
- Henrique's OT goal sends Devils into Stanley Cup final
- The New Jersey Devils will vie for a potential fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history after defeating the New York Rangers in six games in the Eastern final, courtesy of rookie Adam Henrique's goal early in overtime. more »
- Employment Insurance review boards to be scrapped
- The federal government is scrapping two review boards used by people appealing decisions made about their employment insurance. more »
Latest Technology & Science News Headlines
- Unloading of docked SpaceX capsule to start Saturday
- The privately bankrolled SpaceX Dragon capsule made a historic arrival at the International Space Station on Friday, and astronauts will begin unloading some of the 544 kilograms of food, water, clothing and other supplies its carrying starting Saturday. more »
- South Africa, Australia to share world's largest telescope
- South Africa and Australia will jointly host the Square Kilometre Array, which promises to be the world's largest telescope, the international consortium in charge of the project said Friday. more »
- Bonavista, N.L., 'coyote' was really wolf, tests confirm
- Wolves have not been seen in Newfoundland since around 1930 and were believed to have been hunted to extinction on the island, but genetic tests have confirmed that an 82-pound animal shot on the Bonavista Peninsula in March was, in fact, a wolf. more »
- Once-rare argus butterfly thriving thanks to climate change
- Global warming is threatening the existence of many species, such as the giant polar bear, but in the case of Britain's brown argus butterfly, it took a species in trouble and made it thrive. more »
- Yahoo scraps digital magazine designed for iPad
- Yahoo has killed Livestand, a tablet magazine, just six months after its debut on the iPad. more »
Bob McDonald's Blog
Government to shut down unique fresh water research area May. 25, 2012 12:31 PM The Experimental Lakes Area research facility in Northern Ontario is being closed down after 44 years of providing invaluable data to scientists in Canada and internationally, a decision that has stunned researchers and environmental groups.
Quirks & Quarks
- May 26: Before the Lights Go Out May. 25, 2012 4:15 PM A new book, "Before the Lights Go Out: Conquering the Energy Crisis Before It Conquers Us", suggests that the unpredictable, unplanned, ad-hoc way our energy use developed in the past will shape our energy future.
Latest Features
- Aylmer triple stabbing leads to first-degree murder charges
- Everest victim's husband says family not seeking government help
- Reclaiming the dead on Mt. Everest
- Employment Insurance review boards to be scrapped
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Canada ending 'Buffalo shuffle' for visas, closing consulate
- Brave cat makes epic leap of faith
- What a Greek euro exit could mean for Canada
- Double-lung recipient dances on Ellen show
