Activision Blizzard Inc. said its "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" had the biggest launch of any game ever, a sign the company's best-selling franchise is continuing to grow.
Released by Activision this week, 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3' shattered game sales records, earning over $400 million in twenty-four hours. Dan Gallagher reports from San Francisco.
The game's success is seen as crucial to Activision, which has shifted its strategy toward releasing fewer, better-quality titles each year.
Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter has said "Call of Duty" makes up one-third of the company's $4 billion in annual revenue. Activision faces a threat this year in "Battlefield 3," Electronic Arts Inc.'s latest shooter title.
Activision said Friday that within the first 24 hours of the new "Call of Duty" game's release, 6.5 million units were sold for $400 million in North America and the U.K.
"We believe the launch of 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3' is the biggest entertainment launch of all time in any medium, and we achieved this record with sales from only two territories," Chief Executive Bobby Kotick said.
North America and Europe account for the bulk of Activision's revenue. The company draws a relatively smaller share of its sales from the Asia-Pacific region.
This marks the third year in a row that the "Call of Duty" franchise has set a release-date record.
Still, the sales figures are hard to put in context because videogame makers don't typically report first-day sales, Wedbush's Mr. Pachter said.
It is unclear whether the company used extra marketing to drum up the debut, or what portion of a game's overall sales take place on the day of its launch.
"God save them with this trend that they've established," Mr. Pachter said, referring to Activision's penchant for releasing "Call Of Duty" first-day sales figures. "One year it's going to sell fewer units than the earlier version."
Activision said it sold 6.5 million copies of its new videogame in 24 hours. Above, a customer in New York.
Late last month, Electronic Arts said five million units of "Battlefield 3" were sold in the first week the game was available. A spokesman declined to provide first-day figures.
Both games are expected to be among the industry's top sellers this year. The competition between the two titles is hotter than in previous years, when the companies released the games at different times.
Activision said the sales data were gathered by Chart-Track and retail customer sell-through information.
That's some news that came to mind today,
not that you care.
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