Call of Duty Sequel Has $310 Million Debut

Wednesday, November 18, 2009
By: Thomas J. Mclean

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 appeared well on its way to challenging for the title of the biggest entertainment debut in history, selling a record estimated 4.7 million copies and earning $310 million in its first day of release, Variety reports.

The Activision game is taking on Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV, which set the industry standard in 2008 by moving 3.7 million units on its first day. GTA IV went on to sell 6 million copies and earn more than $500 million by the end of its first week of release.

The game’s success couldn’t come at a better time for the video game industry, which reported today that overall sales were down 19 percent in October.

The game also is leading a wave of high-profile holiday video game releases such as New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Assassin’s Creed 2. Those releases could help the industry recover from a year in which sales are down 13 percent for the year.

Reader Comments

• Anonymous :

  Wednesday, November 18, 2009

  If they had dedicated servers for the PC version, they could have had several million more sales on the PC side.

• Rex Hindrichs : Artist : Tengu Entertainment

  Thursday, November 19, 2009

  I personally enjoyed the other two big titles of November more (Dragon Age and Assassins Creed II), but regardless this is great news for my industry.