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Modern Warfare 3 Smashes Week One Sales Record - News

by Miles Taven , posted on 14 November 2011 / 32,952 Views

After last week's announcement of Modern Warfare 3 debuting to massive first day sales, it should come as no surprise to learn first week sales have topped 12 million units, the biggest launch of all time in the videogame industry.

The Xbox 360 version sold over 7 million units (57%), a milestone no other game on a single SKU has ever passed before. The PS3 version also saw impressive numbers with 4.8 million (39%), whilst the remaining 0.5 million was split between the Wii/PC. Of course, Japanese sales are yet to come and could push the PS3 version to 5 million units, a record in itself. Americas held 63% of sales with the remaining 37% going to EMEAA.


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71 Comments
Pokemonbrawlvg (on 15 November 2011)

Pokemon, guns, and crime. That's what the world is made of.

  • +12
blunty51 (on 15 November 2011)

This is why there is going to be at least one COD title per year.

  • +10
Simulacrum (on 15 November 2011)

Dam...That is pretty sad list.

  • +10
reviniente Simulacrum (on 15 November 2011)

Not a Pokémon fan, I see.

  • -1
Bman54 (on 14 November 2011)

So except for Gears 3, all of them are either Pokemon, GTA, Halo or CoD. What a diverse list.

  • +10
dsage01 (on 15 November 2011)

This list is pretty disappointing

  • +9
Vueguy (on 15 November 2011)

i already saw 5.2m players on the PS3 leaderboard of MW3, wtf?

  • +7
reviniente Vueguy (on 15 November 2011)

I believe several users can play using a single copy of the game.

  • -1
Kai Master Vueguy (on 17 November 2011)

Maybe more than one gamer per game bought ? Brothers or friends ?

  • -1
NightDragon83 (on 15 November 2011)

And people wonder why game companies continue making sequel after sequel to hit franchises...

  • +5
MRKs (on 15 November 2011)

Pretty amazing numbers, and so much hate around here. Guys I don't like shooters but even I can tell the game has quality and it seems fun. I know they don't improve much over it's predeccesor but even so the game don't deserve the hate it has.

  • +5
PullusPardus MRKs (on 15 November 2011)

Well you never played the games, nor other FPSs so you wouldn't know.

  • +1
Areym MRKs (on 15 November 2011)

Let's see. Barely any improvement between games, over priced DLC, has one of the worst communities in online gaming. There's plenty of reason to hate it. Still, one can't deny that it is a phenomenon around the world

  • +1
oniyide MRKs (on 15 November 2011)

Lets not forget the horrible campaigns. Blops you were all right

  • +1
Michael-5 (on 15 November 2011)

Insane. Wow this list is generic. Call of Duty, Halo, Pokemon, GTA and a lone Gears of War title...Peoples tastes don't seem to change.

  • +5
Cthulhu (on 15 November 2011)

I have two random people in my PSN list that all thet were playing all year MW2..now its changed to MW3..sad and pathetic

  • +5
ZVERMIX122 Cthulhu (on 15 November 2011)

Well, up until BF3, MW2 was the best online multiplayer.

  • -4
Kai Master Cthulhu (on 17 November 2011)

I had the same addiction with Halo 2 at the time, I only played Halo 2 for one full year.

  • 0
Reebokanonymous (on 15 November 2011)

Funny how the most cynical comments are the top-liked ones. Sure, I would rather not have FPS's dominating the market since I don't like to play them, but plenty of people obviously do.

I have friends who play COD. They're not sad and pathetic frat boys. They are engineers, psychologists, political scientists. Yes, it's convenient to judge so many millions of people, but it's inaccurate.

Also, I couldn't be happier that GTA is on there. My favorite series by far.

  • +3
reviniente Reebokanonymous (on 15 November 2011)

How many of the dolts in our beloved forums, would you wager, are engineers, psychologists or political scientists? Asking for poignant comments is really too much. We barely know how to read. Damn video games.

  • 0
Makaha Reebokanonymous (on 15 November 2011)

@reviniente
LOL, LOL!!
that's one of the funniest replies I've seen in a while
Funny, but true.....

  • 0
Kai Master Reebokanonymous (on 17 November 2011)

When I think of CoDs I think of 12-18 years old teens (even if in reality I have friends of 25-30 years old that play CoDs but they are unemployed or working in fast foods), your friends must be very special (this is like saying Obama plays CoD on a daily basis to me) or Americans are very specials ^^

  • +2
Kai Master (on 17 November 2011)

Multiplatform :
1/ CoDs (MW3=12M)
2/ GTAs (GTA4=5.92M)
3/ Pokemons (B&W=5.28M)
4/ Halos (H:R=4.05M)
5/ Elder Scrolls (Skyrim=3.5M)

  • +2
Kai Master (on 17 November 2011)

Is this list considering 6 full days of sales or just arbitrary "week one" (Skyrim has only 2 days of sales on week one) ?

  • +2
Kai Master (on 17 November 2011)

Anglo-saxon are heavily into FPS, that's why FPS sell better on 360 (360 leads in US and UK) I'm wondering what are the numbers and split in France and other markets.

  • +2
miqdadi (on 16 November 2011)

O.K. Congratulation to Activision, But right now I don't think they have any other projects, Only call of duty, even Spider-man games are dead. so they wait all the year for this killer release & what do they sell through the remaining of the year, WOW cards? strange

  • +1
oniyide (on 15 November 2011)

not even a Mario made the list??? wow

  • +1
usrevenge (on 15 November 2011)

meh, BF3 is a better shooter, skyrim is a better game.

  • +1
hunkalacio (on 15 November 2011)

Staggering numbers. Activision sure knows the pulse of their player-base...

  • +1
Rath (on 15 November 2011)

Seriously guys, why do people keep buying this time after time?

There have been 7 CoD games in this generation, CoD2, CoD3, CoD:MW, CoD:WaW, CoD:MW2, CoD:BO and CoD:MW3. There hasn't really been a vast improvement in the game since the first MW - so what is keeping people buying every iteration?

  • +1
Nybbas Rath (on 15 November 2011)

People are retarded. I was going to pick up mw3 (havnt bought a cod since 1) But after playing BF3 the past couple weeks almost nonstop, then looking at some COD mw3 videos on line... The game looks like a joke. I have plenty to keep me occupied between skyrim, bf3, still playing dark souls, the new zelda etc. etc. I would rather play and support studios who continue to push boundaries, rather than this garbage.

  • 0
Michael-5 Rath (on 15 November 2011)

Well Call of Duty is a fun game online. I'm thinking of getting MW3, but I only bought MW1 and Black Ops before, and Black Ops being trey-arch disappointed me. I like co-op.

  • -3
MRKs Rath (on 15 November 2011)

Because it's a good game, it's overrated but the fun lies in the multiplayer (being online or offline) Also you can do Co-Op the campaign
The people aren't retarded, It's just the game is massive now and have an excellent quality

  • -1
Rath Rath (on 15 November 2011)

I understand it't bought for the online, but has that really improved massively with each iteration since MW?

  • +1
MRKs Rath (on 15 November 2011)

From what I know, the games has improved over the time, but not massively. However the people buy these games because of the story AND the multiplayer. Will you play online a game who doesn't have as many players as it used to be or will you buy the new entry of the saga and enjoy the campaign and the multiplayer?

  • 0
DarkMarine Rath (on 15 November 2011)

Well using your statement Call of Duty was a top notch series and still is. Call of Duty, 2, and 4 brought it what it is today. If it is a perfect game, why change it? Doesn't remove from the fact that the following sequels are bad games, just updated. And that's what people (like me) want to play. An updated version of a game I've loved since 2005.

Other than that these games have amazing marketing staff. They focus on correct demographics and ultimately get their games on this list.

  • -1
Carl (on 14 November 2011)

Amazing. Simply amazing.

  • +1
Dm13x (on 16 November 2011)

And Gears is the only one that was born in the current generation, thats odd... This means that there isnt good "new" franchises ??? (my english sucks i know)

  • 0
silver (on 15 November 2011)

no doubt, huge numbers!!!

  • 0
invetedlotus123 (on 15 November 2011)

DQ IX sold how much in first week? And considering that in 2008 the biggest launch in a single console was still held by a Final Fantasy game.

  • 0
UltimateUnknown (on 15 November 2011)

People play what they like, stop being a crybaby and get over it. You should be happy that gaming has become such a big thing, GTA:SA is the only console game from past gen to make the list, every other game is from this gen.

Seeing the list, wow the sales are crazy, I like how Gears 3 is hanging on for dear life.

  • 0
ljigga (on 15 November 2011)

Quite obvious that ps3 is undertracked here, starting to become the usual around these boards I guess though

  • 0
enrageorange ljigga (on 16 November 2011)

obviously because there is obvious evidence that its overtracked because actual numbers have obviously been published or are you still butthurt that the 3.8mil was indeed shipped.

  • 0
chidori-chan2 (on 15 November 2011)

i'm really shameful im belong a gamer in this gen... sad this numbers =/

  • 0
xyorickx14 (on 15 November 2011)

PS3 version undertracked for sur 5.2m ppl in leaderboards on fryday

  • 0
lordmandeep (on 15 November 2011)

hmm 4.8 million PS3 sales yet over 5 million PSN users have joined the game?

  • 0
DirtyP2002 lordmandeep (on 15 November 2011)

Multiple accounts.

  • -1
Cirio lordmandeep (on 15 November 2011)

People have multiple accounts. You'd be surprised at how many people create different accounts just for CoD so that their major account will be their "high KD" serious account while their secondary account will be the one where they goof around with.

  • 0
Seece lordmandeep (on 15 November 2011)

not to mention these were sales ending on Saturday, there has been 2 full days since then.

  • +1
NobleTeam360 lordmandeep (on 18 November 2011)

Its called renting the game.

  • 0
yo_john117 (on 15 November 2011)

7 million+ on the 360 alone?!! That's more than most games do in their entire life!

God MW3 is a complete beast.

  • 0
usrevenge yo_john117 (on 15 November 2011)

sales =/= quality.

  • +1
Makaha yo_john117 (on 15 November 2011)

@usrevenge

you got that right!!

Just look at MadWorld, Valkyria Chronicles and Demon's Souls--fantastic games but poor sales relatively speaking

  • 0
eliasg (on 15 November 2011)

XBOX 360 Domination!!!!

  • -1
usrevenge (on 15 November 2011)

its a game to play with friends, every week or so people will all join party chat and play a few matches of MW3 then split up and play a better game.

  • -1
Makaha usrevenge (on 15 November 2011)

okay, two really funny comments in the replies to an original comment!!
(the other one by reviniente in the above comment)

'split up and play a better game' ??

LOL!
LOL!!!
LOL!!!!!

  • +1
crunch (on 15 November 2011)

Hell ye Pokemon is the best even with all these shooters it still has 3 titles in the list

  • -2
binary solo (on 15 November 2011)

Well at least Xbox360 has some diversity in titles, even if similarity in type (shooter). PS3 is CoD CoD CoD. and DS is Pokemon Pokemon Pokemon.

  • -3
DonFerrari binary solo (on 17 November 2011)

are you for real?

  • 0
riders42 (on 14 November 2011)

Incredible

  • -3
spynx (on 15 November 2011)

I don't know whether this figure is coming from Activision or an estimate for vgcharts. The fist day figures for this game was incorrect and was verified by the publisher as 6.5mil and not vgcharts' estimate of 9.3mil. I'm skeptic about the 12.3mil figure for one week; At best could be 9.3mil.

  • -4
Seece spynx (on 15 November 2011)

Wrong, Activision's 6.5 was US+UK, we estimated 7 mill, so we were just 500k high and that was rectified in these figures.

  • -1
Mordred11 (on 15 November 2011)
  • -11
hagelt18 (on 14 November 2011)
  • -12
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