Call of Duty Shatters First-Day Sales Records Again

Once again, the Call of Duty franchise has broken day-one sales records. Activision is boasting that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 sold more than 6.5 million units in North America and Europe across three platforms on its first day of release, with an estimated sell-through of $400 million.

Once again, the Call of Duty franchise has broken day-one sales records. Activision is boasting that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 sold more than 6.5 million units in North America and Europe across three platforms on its first day of release, with an estimated sell-through of $400 million.

Honestly, this kind of thing is probably getting really boring for Activision by now. Modern Warfare 3 breaks the record set by Black Ops last year ($360 million), which broke Modern Warfare 2's record from the previous year ($310 million).

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick was pleased with the news. "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," he said. "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."

Of course, to be fair, most companies don't release new entries in their franchises three years in a row. Then again, you can't argue with results. Call of Duty is still an undeniably strong brand.

Staff article by Rhody Tobin (November 11, 2011) Rhody likes to press the keys on his keyboard. Sometimes the resulting letters form strings of words that kind of make sense when you think about them for a moment. Most times they're just random gibberish that should be ignored. Ball-peen wobble glurk.