Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 sells more than 6.5m copies within 24 hours of its launch, earning an estimated $400m in sales – and beating Harry Potter’s box office

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has set a new record for the biggest ever entertainment launch. The game’s publisher, Activision Blizzard, has claimed that in the US and UK alone, the military shooter sold over 6.5m units within 24 hours of its launch on Tuesday, raising $400m in sales revenues.

The figures are based on data from Charttrack as well as customer sell-through information.

It is a third consecutive sales record for the Call of Duty series. 2009′s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 sold 4.7m copies in 24 hours earning $310m in revenue, while last year’s Call of Duty: Black Op hit 5.6m copies in its first day.

“We believe the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the biggest entertainment launch of all time in any medium, and we achieved this record with sales from only two territories,” said Activision Blizzard chief executive Bobby Kotick.

“Other than Call of Duty, there has never been another entertainment franchise that has set opening day records three years in a row. Life-to-date sales for the Call of Duty franchise exceed worldwide theatrical box office for Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, two of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time.”

By contrast, the highest grossing movie of the year so far, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, made $80m in one day on the global box office – a record figure for the film industry.

Activision claims that 13,000 stores worldwide opened at midnight on Monday to allow queues of gamers to buy the title. Reportedly, Modern Warfare 3 has also set a record for the largest numbers of concurrent players on Xbox Live, the console’s multiplayer gaming service.

“Call of Duty is more than a game. It’s become a major part of the pop cultural landscape,” claimed Activision Publishing chief executive Eric Hirshberg. “It is a game that core enthusiasts love, but that also consistently draws new people into the medium.”

Call of Duty

Modern Warfare

Activision Blizzard

Games

Xbox

PS3

PC

Game culture

Shoot ‘em ups

Media business

Digital media

Keith Stuart

guardian.co.uk © 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Slim-PS3.com is updated regularly per day with all latest Slim PS3 news and hardware reviews.

MTV Multiplayer: If “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2″ had a noticeable weak point, it was in its campaign. A nonsensical, overly-complex (yet ironically half-baked) plot and some redundant cover-to-cover gameplay made the solo campaign feel like a step back from the original “Modern Warfare.” The campaign was trumped in just about every way by last year’s “Call of Duty: Black Ops,” which means the gauntlet has been thrown, and it’s up to Infinity Ward and newcomer, Sledgehammer Games, to take back the reins of the franchise with “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.” This site is updated several times per day with the very latest Free Sony Slim PS3 news and reviews.

The newly announced Call of Duty: Black Ops is now available for you to pre-order at your local participating retailers. Slim-PS3.com is updated regularly per day with the latest Free Slim PS3 news and reviews.

The latest iteration of the Call of Duty franchise has smashed many records along the way since its release pretty recently, outdoing even movies when it comes to total gross, making some people wonder just which industry would be more lucrative assuming one makes it big, so to speak. But I digress – the Call of Duty: World at War map pack bundle is already readily available in North America, where owners of the Xbox 360 will be able to enjoy it on Xbox LIVE Marketplace for 2,000 Microsoft Points, while folks rocking to the Sony PS3 can always get the Call of Duty: World at War map pack bundle for $24.99 over the PlayStation Store.

The bundle from developer Treyarch and Activision Publishing, Inc. features the complete collection of nine multiplayer maps and three co-op Zombie maps from Call of Duty: World at War Map Packs 1-3. Fight through war-torn Berlin in “Nightfire,” battle through the jungle and waterfalls of “Banzai,” and defend an armored island in “Battery.” Zombies and Hell Hounds attack in “Verruckt” (Zombie Asylum), “Shi No Numa” (Zombie Swamp), and “Der Riese” (Zombie Factory). Survive against the onslaught of Zombies with the help of Perks-a-Cola machines, Monkey Bombs, and the powerful Wunderwaffe DG-2.

Expect Call of Duty: World at War map pack bundle to arrive in Europe for our friends across the Atlantic next January 7th, which means they can’t enjoy the title in time for Christmas. What are the video games lined up on your side that you intend to complete during this holiday season?

Press Release

You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Add to Del.icio.us

Slim-PS3.com is updated several times each day with the very latest games console news and reviews.