While it should come to no one's surprise that Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 released to record sales. However, considering that Halo 4 posted an "entertainment launch" record of $220 million dollars in it's first five days, everyone's been holding their breath to see if the latest iteration in Activision's money-making machine could outdo the previous titles.
And it happened. First day numbers show record sales of a combined total of $500 million dollars. That's right, first day sales. Breaking last year's number set with Modern Warfare 3 at $400 million dollars. It sure is a surprise, that's for sure. Here's what Eric Hershbirg, CEO of Activision Publishing had to say about the whole ordeal.
“With first day sales of over half a billion dollars worldwide, we believe Call of Duty is the biggest entertainment launch of the year for the fourth year in a row,” said Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard, Inc. “Life-to-date sales for the Call of Duty franchise have exceeded worldwide theatrical box office receipts for “Harry Potter” and “Star Wars,” the two most successful movie franchises of all time. Given the challenged macro-economic environment, we remain cautious about the balance of 2012 and 2013.”
“Call of Duty has become more than a product people buy, it’s a brand people buy into. And every November we do more than just the launch of a game, we kick off an annual, unofficial but worldwide phenomenon called the Call of Duty season,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. “I want to thank our incredible team at Treyarch for making an amazing game, everyone at Activision for making this brand a force of nature and our retail partners for their unprecedented support of this franchise. But most importantly I want to thank our millions of fans for their continued support and loyalty and for making us better every day.”
It seems nothing can stop the juggernaut that has become the annual Call of Duty release. Will next year's iteration, rumored to be Modern Warfare 4, once again break record numbers? Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is now out on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC. The Wii U version will be released this Sunday alongside the console itself, but we have our review of the 360 version here.