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Modern Warfare 3 Sets Entertainment Record, $775 Million in Five Days

by William D'Angelo, posted on 17 November 2011 / 3,185 Views

Activision Blizzard has announced that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has set a new record for the entertainment industry. The game grossed more than $775 million worldwide in its first five days on sale. The previous record holder was Call of Duty: Black Ops which grossed $650 million and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 with $550 million two years ago. The Call of Duty franchise has also exceeded $6 billion worldwide.

"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."

The game has also set record levels for number of people playing the game online. There were more than 3.3 million gamers playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 on Xbox Live, which is up from 2.6 million gamers for Call of Duty: Black Ops. The game also set a record for most number of gamers at the same time on the PlayStation Network.

"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," said Kotick.

According to VGChartz, Call Duty: Modern Warfare 3 sold more than 12 million units in its opening week. The Xbox 360 version sold more than seven million units, while the PlayStation 3 version sold over 4.8 million. The Wii and PC versions split the remaining 500,000.


10 Comments

pezus
pezus (on 17 November 2011)

That original over 12m report doesn't match with this week's Americas numbers. MW3 360 won't be at over 7m (4.5m Am.+2.5m EMEAA). That would mean it outsold the PS3 version in EMEAA, a highly unlikely feat

  • +2
rexar1
rexar1 (on 20 November 2011)

MW3 IS TOTALLY BEAST !!! OUTSELL EVERYTHING IN ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY INCLUDING MOVIES, GAMES, BOOKS, MUSICS !!!

  • +1
hunkalacio
hunkalacio (on 18 November 2011)

Incredible feat for Activision and for the COD franchise, despite the obnoxious smear campaign by some haters against MW3. Let the haters hate, let the lovers play, and let Activision laugh all the way to the banks. On a sidenote though, it's high time for Acti guys to take COD in an all-new direction and not just through a different route. They have to evolve and they have to do that before their cash-cow starts gasping for its final breaths. And by evolve, I don't mean it in some 'Black Ops-ish' way.

  • +1
padib
padib (on 17 November 2011)

It continues to sell, and continues to break records. This is quite the feat. Did we expect this from Activision? Or should we now really call them Activision Blizzard, the absolute beasts of gaming success?

  • +1
GameAnalyser
GameAnalyser (on 17 November 2011)

Now we expect an epic successor to this in 2013 if the world doesn't end by 2012.

  • 0
dsage01
dsage01 (on 17 November 2011)

Really un deserved I'm dissapointed

  • 0
coolbeans
coolbeans (on 17 November 2011)

C'mon, really? I'm not cheering for CoD/Activision, but who are we to say whether this is undeserved?

  • 0
spynx
spynx (on 18 November 2011)

So all the games that were not bought throughout the year, this is where the money ends. Gamers are skewed towards fps is just an understatement. More developers as well as franchises would face extinction in the coming years.

  • -1
Araknie
Araknie (on 18 November 2011)

Who's entertained?

  • -1
Michael-5
Michael-5 (on 17 November 2011)

Well, as much as everyone insults Call of Duty, what other games compare multiplayer-wise? Battlefield 3 compares, but EA only just entered the game with a proper online Battlefield, and...what Crysis 2, Dead Island? Even exclusives don't compare multiplayer-wise. Halo is great, but it's sci-fi, where Call of Duty has a much broader audience. Same with Gears and Killzone. All of these games are sci-fi, so no matter how good they are, mindless zombies won't care. The Call of Duty series struck a cord with Modern Warfare, and since then have been able to follow the formula and make consistently good multiplayer games. You know it's true, for multiplayer content CoD and now BF excell.

  • -2
Jexy
Jexy (on 17 November 2011)

Why would that be unlikely? I thought all XBAUX people loved shooters?

  • -4
padib
padib (on 17 November 2011)

The shocker is that it's industry-wide, and a huge record, even beating the last record and the one before it. This isn't a one-hit wonder, it's a lasting series. Activision isn't this lucky usually, we've seen them fail with Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk. This on the other hand lives, and could live for a long time as people seem to keep enjoying war simulators, especially those with the name Call of Duty on them.

  • +1
pezus
pezus (on 17 November 2011)

PS3 is dominating in EMEAA, that's why it's unlikely.

  • 0
Michael-5
Michael-5 (on 17 November 2011)

There is only about 15% more PS3's in EMEAA then 360's, that's not a huge difference, and the last Modern Warfare sold better week 1 on 360 then PS3. Add that to the fact that with every CoD game, 360 gets a stronger tie ratio, and yea. MW3 should at worst case tie sales for 360 and PS3 in EMEAA.

  • -2
pezus
pezus (on 18 November 2011)

The last modern warfare came out when PS3 domination was about to begin in EMEAA (over 360 I mean). PS3 is the preferred version for Cod fans in most EMEAA countries except the UK. It has become synonymous with "PSN" ;-)

  • 0