Modern Warfare 3 Breaks Sales Records

[keithlewis]

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/11/09/moder ... ion-packs/

In case we’d forgotten how mind numbingly huge Call of Duty is, last night’s Activision earnings call dropped some massive sales figures to jog our memories. Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg announced that Modern Warfare 3 “drove the largest day one shipments in our history and in the industry’s history.”

That follows the fact that “Pre-orders for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 outpaced pre-orders for Call of Duty: Black Ops by a wide margin, setting a new industry record in making it the most pre-ordered game of all time.”

The continued success of Black Ops is even more surprising. On the same call, Activision last night revealed that they’ve 20 million Black Ops expansion packs, at £11.50 each. That’s a cool £230 million in sales. “The revenues generated from map packs alone would make it the third largest console title of the year,” said Hirshberg.

Activision announce that they made $148 million this year between July and September, up from $51 million last year. There was no mention in the conference call of enormous money hats or swimming pools filled with gold bullion, but Activision did announce that they plan to make more money next year, with even more map packs for Modern Warfare 3. Now I have to go and grab a cup of tea and stop trying to imagine what $148 million looks like in dollar bill form.

[keithlewis]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Sets New Five-Day Entertainment Record Grossing More Than $775 Million Worldwide

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Becomes Best-Selling Video Game Launch of All Time at Each of the Top-Five Retailers in North America

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Establishes New Xbox® LIVE™ Record with 3.3 Million Unique Online Players in One Day


Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), announced today that Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 3 has shattered theatrical box office, book and video game sales records for five-day worldwide sell-through in dollars. The game established an all-new five-day worldwide sell-through record of more than $775 million, exceeding the record of $650 million set a year ago by Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops and $550 million two years ago for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare® 2, according to Charttrack and retail customer sell-through information..

"With $775 million of sales of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in its first five days, Call of Duty has become the first entertainment property in history to set five-day launch records for three consecutive years across all forms of entertainment," said Robert Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard. "Life-to-date retail sales for the Call of Duty franchise have exceeded $6 billion worldwide, which makes Call of Duty one of the most valuable entertainment properties in the world. We expect continued sales momentum, as reviews and audience enthusiasm suggest that this is the best Call of Duty game that we have ever made. Online play for Modern Warfare 3 is at record levels and we continue to see high online play for both Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which ranked as the #2 and #4 top-played Xbox LIVE games for the week of November 7, according to Major Nelson."

"As I have said all year, we have been singluarly focused on making a spectacular game for our fans, and nothing else. Our incredible teams at Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games have done just that," said Eric Hirshberg, CEO, Activision Publishing. "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 continues to thrill core gaming enthusiasts as well as draw new people into the medium, which is not an easy balancing act. But it takes more than a great game. I would also like to thank our incredible team for the pulling off the launch of the year, as well as our retail partners around the world. But most of all, I want to thank our fans. They are our toughest critics, and our biggest supporters, and none of this would be possible without them."

In addition to beating all previous first-and five-day theatrical box office, book and video game sell-through records, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 set two new records on Xbox® LIVE™.

According to Microsoft:

More than 7.0 million multiplayer hours were logged playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 by the end of launch day, November 8, a 19% increase over last year's 5.9 million multiplayer hours logged playing Call of Duty: Black Ops last year's launch day.
More than 3.3 million unique gamers played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in one day on November 8 up from 2.6 million unique gamers for Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 set a new record for concurrent players on Xbox LIVE with 3.3 million simultaneous users on November 8.

"The Call of Duty franchise returned to Xbox 360 this year with another record-breaking launch. More than 7 million multiplayer hours were played on Modern Warfare 3 on day-one of launch on Xbox 360," said Don Mattrick, president of the interactive entertainment business at Microsoft. "And with the exclusive first access to new multiplayer content, we're proud Xbox 360 is home to the largest and most engaged Call of Duty community."

The game also set a new franchise mark for the number of simultaneous online gamers playing Call of Duty on PlayStation® Network on its first day, and was the best-selling video game launch of all time in North America on Amazon.com and at Best Buy, GameStop, Target and Walmart.

"In just over a week, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has been hugely successful on PlayStation 3, and continues to drive millions of gamers globally to PlayStation Network with its unprecedented and engaging online multiplayer experience," said Jack Tretton, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA). "The Call of Duty franchise is one of the biggest entertainment brands on the planet, delivering gameplay experiences like no other which is why we're also excited to bring the Call of Duty franchise to our highly-anticipated next generation portable, PlayStation Vita, where we expect fans will continue their dedication to the most amazing Call of Duty experiences whether in the home or on the go."