Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Sets Launch Day Sales Record, Outguns Star Wars
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Sets Launch Day Sales Record, Outguns Star Wars
Posted 11/11/2011 at 8:25am
| by Paul Lilly
19
Comments
Print
With the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Activision Publishing is once again walking tall, earning and burning, snapping necks and cashing checks, or something like that (NSFW). It's not the Catalina Wine Mixer, but according to Activision, MW3 has become the "biggest entertainment launch ever" with first day sales exceeding $400 million and more than 6.5 million units in the U.S.
Activision is quick to point out that this is the third consecutive year the Call of Duty franchise has set a day one launch record, not just in videogames, but for all forms of entertainment in any medium. Black Ops notched first day sales figures of $360 million in 2010, and Modern Warfare 2 raked in $310 million on the first day, according to figures Activision cited from Charttrack.
"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," said Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard, Inc. "Other than Call of Duty, there has never been another entertainment franchise that has set opening day records three years in a row. Life-to-date sales for the Call of Duty franchise exceed worldwide theatrical box office for 'Star Wars' and 'Lord of the Rings,' two of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time."
To that extent, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg has a leg to stand on in claiming that Call of Duty "is more than a game. It's become a major part of the pop cultural landscape."
In a separate announcement, Activision said it donated $3 million to the Call of Duty Endowment on Veterans Day. The organization is a non-profit outfit that provides job placement and training for veterans. The $3 million donation is on top of $2 million Activision already gave since it was conceived by Bobby Kotick in November 2009.
More like this
19
Comments
Comments are closed on this article
Hikkudel
November 12, 2011 at 10:39pm
I've been told by several people who've been playing CoD since the first release, and everyone is telling me that the graphics are sub-par; worse than MW2 and closer to what Black Ops offered. Can anyone verify this? The beauty of CoD used to be that you had both, an intense Single Player story line, and after beating the campaign mode, you could continue the exictement by getting into some highly intense Multi-Player gaming as well.
MW2 started a reverse trend, but was still pretty decent aside from the P2P hosting. After most of the original developers left the company, it seemed as if they really went backwards at a very fast pace. Most of us who've been around the PC FPS gaming community for over 10 years, have always seen sales do better in new releases over previous releases. That doesn't mean the game necessarily "rocks". Look at STEAM online stats between MW2 and Black Ops... MW2 has more MP activity on average. That alone, not just unit sales, should really be taken into consideration on how successful a game is or is not.
Nahiyan
November 29, 2011 at 2:23pm
I've been playing since CoD:2 (except CoD:3 and MW3) and after MW2, the graphics were sucky-ish. Of course I haven't played the games for a couple of months because my sucky-ish computer's hard-drive crashed..
But anyways you are absolutely right and most of the reason I still like CoD is because of the storylines.
szore
November 13, 2011 at 5:39am
Confirmed. The game is garbage, nothing more than a arcade game with dated graphics. I played the crack today for about 45 minutes and it said I was 10% done with the SP. The one cool thing was the battle on Wall Street where I work. I was in a firefight and suddenly I was like, ! I know where I am, right outside my door! That was a cool, though fleeting moment. And yes, the shadows are too dark...
jghellion
November 11, 2011 at 2:08pm
I don't think they are necessarily trying to get away with anything or "recycle" the same game. I can understand why some of you feel like you would like something different or new but sometimes different or new isn't better.
I don't mind that it's similar to past offerings because what it does, it does well, why mess with it. If you need something different you can always try the other big war game BAD COMPANY but they seem to follow the same path.
tornato7
November 11, 2011 at 11:18am
i actually dont know anyone who bought mw3. probably because i convinced them it was identical to mw2
rawrnomnom
November 11, 2011 at 10:44am
Horray! the new $60 DLC for COD 4 is out!!!! Wait... you mean it's supposed to be a new game? Well WTF...
bling581
November 11, 2011 at 9:40am
His quote from another article, "it itterates rather than innovates". Really? How is that any different than the other COD games?
hastyscorpion
November 11, 2011 at 9:36am
Saying that MW3 is the biggest entertainment launch and that it is becoming a major part of the pop culture landscape is really disingenuous. because you pay 60 bucks for a game while you only pay around 10 dollars for a movie ticket. Take the Dark Knight for example. It grossed 67 million on it's first day. which is roughly 6.7 million people who went and saw the movie more than the 6.5 million who bought MW3. And I imagine that gap will grow larger when you compare the opening weekend totals.
It's the biggest entertainment launch ever in money terms but not in "People who actually consumed your product terms." Which is what makes a pop culture phenomenon.
Red Ensign
November 11, 2011 at 3:19pm
It's the same as when Steve Jobs claimed the iphone is the worlds highest selling mobile gaming device. It's all in how you twist the words/meaning when making your claims. All of a sudden a few years ago game developers decided they were in the same market as home entertainment with the movie/video market. They're free to think whatever that want. Now if only thinking made it so. They conveniently don't include music album sales as competition for a reason. If included in "their" definition of entertainment, 6.7 million sales would be a non factor.
stradric
November 11, 2011 at 9:26am
Mindless consumerism at its best... or worst, depending how you look at it.
szore
November 11, 2011 at 8:51am
Cool. Downloading the crack right now, can't wait. Thanx RELOADED!
DU00
November 11, 2011 at 8:40am
Goes to show that fanboys will be fanboys. It kind of irks me that Activision can get away with this blatant recycling. They added some new MP game modes, some new maps, a crappy and short SP campaign and called it a day. If it were any other franchise using these same tactics it would have been burried by now. At least polish the graphics a little bit so it looks like you at least tried.
bautrey
November 11, 2011 at 2:26pm
From the gameplay I've seen, the graphics look almost identical to MW2. Well then again it is designed for the xbox so don't expect to much on an outdated platform.
DU00
November 11, 2011 at 9:29am
I know I'm like all the haters. I gave up after Black Ops. Maybe the next one will be different now that this story of the trilogy is finished. Here's hoping.
qu3becker
November 11, 2011 at 11:14am
I'm sure they are planing a third "Spin-off" like Black Ops and World at War.
The call of duty series became the casual games of the teenagers (or younger) even though it's game rated M.
Connect with MaximumPC
Featured Content
The gang discusses the GTX 690, Trinity, Ivy Bridge, Amazon, big-box stores, MMOs,...
This month's issue
Feature
Build a PC On Any Budget
Feature
Cloud Services Showdown
How-To
Encrypt Your External Drive
Build It
Upgrade an X58 Rig
Most Commented Articles
Latest Max PC Tweets
- maximumpc: Original RickRoll Video Returns to YouTube After 24-Hour Copyright Hiatus http://t.co/MaH9Sxyy1 day 1 hour ago
- maximumpc: Corsair has decided not to go forward with its $78 million IPO, citing weak equity market conditions http://t.co/A5a4DAzj1 day 1 hour ago
- maximumpc: Want to work at Maximum PC? Our Online Managing Editor, Alex, is moving away, so we need a new one. http://t.co/9Z7JCh0E2 days 23 hours ago
