'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3' Video Game Breaks Sales Record

NEW YORK -- By the third time around, it really shouldn't be a surprise. The latest "Call of Duty" video game set a first-day sales record this week, generating $400 million in sales in its first 24 hours in stores. That breaks the record its predecessor set this time last year.

"Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" is the third game in the military shooter series to set such a record. Last year, "Call of Duty: Black Ops" raked in $360 million in its first 24 hours on sale. "Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 2," sold 4.7 million copies in its first 24 hours to reap $310 million

The latest installment of the game from Activision Blizzard Inc. went on sale at midnight Tuesday in North America and the U.K.

Activision said Friday the game sold 6.4 million units in its first 24 hours.

A rival shooter game from Electronic Arts Inc., "Battlefield 3," meanwhile, sold 5 million units in its first week in stores last month, making it the fastest-selling game in EA's history.

The figures show there's a big appetite for big shooter games this holiday season, boding well for their publishers and retailers such as GameStop Corp.

Shares of Activision Blizzard slipped 16 cents to $12.82 in morning trading Friday.

Comments

[TONY PALAZUELOS]

06:09 PM on 11/26/2011

watch this it is a pretty cool glitch for spec ops survival mode and for online multiplayer please watch
....... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snN0PKkZoKs

[Monk2001]

04:37 PM on 11/14/2011

Bethesda > Activision-Blizzard

[Monk2001]

04:36 PM on 11/14/2011

Whatever plebians. Skyrim > CODMW3.....

[imonlyhereforthelaughs]

12:39 PM on 11/14/2011

Meanwhile, the same stores that had the massive green and white CoD displays stocked full of this game in all of its formats had completely sold out of The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim in all of its formats.. I tried to locate TES: Skyrim at several of the usual places over the weekend and each one said they had sold out on release day (11/11/11).

I finally had to simply buy it through Steam.

Turns out CoD:MW sold 6.4 million copies and TES: Skyrim sold 3.4 million copies. Respectable by anyone's standards though only a tad more than half of CoD:MW.

Skyrim, however, has recorded a much higher score from both reviewers and players that CoD:MW.

[onionboy]

12:15 PM on 11/14/2011

Just another $600,000,000; and they'll almost have paid for that marketing campaign.

[edenooch]

10:43 AM on 11/14/2011

battlefield was way better. MW3 is too arcade like!

[rowdiman]

09:39 PM on 11/13/2011

My husband said this is by far, the best game he's ever played....and believe me, he's very critical when it comes to his Xbox 360 "man time".

[NerdyStudent]

12:24 AM on 11/14/2011

He should probably try Half-Life sometime...

[OSullivan]

04:46 AM on 11/14/2011

Indeed.

[rowdiman]

09:01 PM on 11/14/2011

I stand corrected: Half-Life is by far his favorite to this day. Wish they would put out a new one for me to get him for Christmas. Contrary to what a lot of wives whine about gaming, I find it to be one of the best ways for him to unwind and get out stress from work. I keep him supplied with Gamefly and buy him the really good ones. If any ladies are reading this; let your man play:)

[authorized-user]

08:09 AM on 11/13/2011

Hands down, the favorite game of the GOP primary candidates. Too bad it doesn't have a water boarding function built in for extra realism.

[Drama Llama]

11:17 PM on 11/12/2011

MW2 I played multiplayer till my eyes bled and my wife threatened to leave me.

Black ops I played the single player.. not once logged in to the multi-player

MW3 I bought Tuesday.. And have still yet to open it.. I am either getting old or bored.. Not sure which yet

[LUHG]

09:07 AM on 11/13/2011

It's a bit about getting old i reckon. I played MW religiously, only played the MW2 single player, didn't touch black ops, and rented MW3 at redbox to finish the single player story arc (which I did in one day) and returned it the next. I was in my early 20's during MW but now in my mid twenties, a lot of games start to bore me.

[NerdyStudent]

03:34 PM on 11/13/2011

Mid-twenties, and you're speaking as if you aged fifteen years...

[akoboga]

09:00 PM on 11/12/2011

Why are people saying CoD is a children's game or all children? Just because you don't like it, are bad at it, can't afford it, or don't have friends who play it doesn't make it for kids. The game is rated 17+ and sells millions of copies, the majority of players are indeed 17+. Get your facts straight.

[NerdyStudent]

03:37 PM on 11/13/2011

You ask: Why are people generalizing about my favorite game.

Then, you offer some generalizations about possible reasons:
I can't afford it, I'm bad at it, I don't have friends, and I don't like it.

Then you offer evidence for why it is the best: it sells more than any other game, and a "majority of players are 17+"

Good lord, are you born stupid?

My limited experience has shown the maturity of the average CoD fanboy is equal or slightly less than equal to that of a Halo Fanboy, which is not saying a whole lot.

[Roger Walker]

12:41 PM on 11/12/2011

very entertaining this Modern Warfare 3...too bad the Call of Duty Elite stats are not working properly :(

http://www.karategamesonline.net

[Jeremy Frasier]

06:21 PM on 11/12/2011

I loved how they advertised see all your stats, when that has been available through your playercard in black ops etc all ready. I think the elite service is worth it to save some money on map downloads, but it is also a great way for them to collect even more information on their users. I really am not that in to it to have to set up my gear on my smartphone or look at my stats on some website or mobile device.

[Squiriferous]

12:39 PM on 11/12/2011

So an enormously profitable company makes half a billion dollars in a single day... and their stock price FALLS?!

[glockman]

04:56 PM on 11/12/2011

Activision has no other real titles to support their stock prices. Call of Duty series, Guitar Hero and the Marvel Alliance games are about all they have. And only Call of Duty remains profitable.

[Squiriferous]

12:56 PM on 11/13/2011

Half a billion. In a day. Many companies would be proud to make a million in a year. Activision's operating costs are probably closer to zero. Activision pays their programmers peanuts and works them to death, then fires them. Did you read about them firing the Call of Duty creators last year? They also own the "Spider-Man" rights. As a publisher, they release some very good video games. They can't all be hits, but they're mostly very good. And with more and more people playing video games, they are becoming more and more profitable.

[PCPrincess]

10:31 AM on 11/14/2011

Don't forget: They are Activision - Blizzard now. Which means... World of Warcraft, Starcraft, and the upcoming Diablo III all fall under the umbrella.

[Roray]

08:00 PM on 11/12/2011

Exactly what I was going to say. Investors are stupid.

[Great State of Ape]

09:40 AM on 11/12/2011

Biggest release in entertainment history! Yeah, right! If tickets to James Cameron's Avatar or George Lucas' Star Wars films were $60 bucks a pop, then I doubt this release would even make a headline. As for the game, I don't see what all the fuss is about. I played Black Ops and I wasn't too impressed. Its just like every other shooter to come in the last decade. If anything, this shows what a hardcore online community Activision has fostered with this game. I fail to see how they really improved the game engine after only one year intervals between MW2, Black Ops, and MW3. This series is becoming the shooter version of Madden.

[frank day]

09:59 AM on 11/12/2011

It is the same engine.

Madden is a good comparison.

[Roburt]

12:24 PM on 11/12/2011

Actually if Avatar came at $60 a pop, they would make significantly less money. The higher the price, the lower the demand, especially comparatively to other prices of other films. Also, MW3 development actually had 2 years to prepare this game. And I wasn't too impressed by BO or MW3 to be honest, but this is a franchise that has defined modern warfare games. It actually was the first to start this boom with MW1. And while it may have gotten stale to some, obviously they have fostered a huge number of enthusiasts. And to be honest, I also hated the pretentious pandering movie Avatar, but that movie knows how to create a following just like MW franchise does.

[H Seldon]

07:59 AM on 11/12/2011

Best description of this game is ...

"it's basically Modern Warfare 2 with a new 'expensive' map pack"

[frank day]

09:59 AM on 11/12/2011

yep

[NerdyStudent]

03:42 PM on 11/13/2011

Hey isn't that the case with any console game?

[H Seldon]

06:40 PM on 11/13/2011

...No

[tonrunner]

06:42 AM on 11/12/2011

The games are fun. Well made, great graphix and story lines. But i still prefer HALO.

[Sorenson]

01:44 PM on 11/12/2011

Storylines? Seriously?

[NerdyStudent]

03:43 PM on 11/13/2011

I'll grant you Halo, but CoD MW has no storyline, other than the fact that some of the main characters are the same...nothing truly new.

Halo has the advantage of being Sci-Fi, so it's not totally crazy to have story lines flex and bend, in entertaining ways...