Activision announced this morning that the game has set a new five-day entertainment record grossing more than $775 million worldwide. MW3 broke 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. It has become the best-selling video game launch of all time at each of the top five retailers in North America and has established a new Xbox LIVE record with 3.3 million unique online players in one day.
“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 .”
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.”
Sony’s Take
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.”
