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Modern Warfare 2 hits the $1B mark

by: Chuck -
More On: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Despite being the most pirated game of last year, it looks like Modern Warfare 2 has sold very, very well as Activision announced today that the game has hit the $1 bill mark in retail sales since it was released in November.  This is global sales and while I'm sure that includes some fuzzy math it shows you just how big the video game market has become.

The sales of Modern Warfare 2 should help Activision more than cover for the disappointing sales of Tony Hawk Ride (reviews coming next Monday) and DJ Hero as well as helping to keep the folks at Infinity Ward knee deep in cash for the foreseeable future.  I'd really like to see Activision use some of that safety net cash to create some new IP's and maybe take a risk or two with some new games (Singularity is a good start) but I'm pretty sure Bobby Kotick is just going to buy another mansion and keep on cranking out more iterations of the Activision franchises.
 
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) announced today that Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 continues to set sell-through records crossing the $1 billion mark in retail sales worldwide since its launch in November, according to internal Activision estimates.

In its first five days alone, the game sold an estimated $550 million worldwide, outpacing five-day worldwide theatrical box office gross figures for such films as Avatar, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and The Dark Night, according to internal Activision estimates and boxofficemojo.com.

“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has exceeded our expectations and shattered theatrical box office and video game records,” said Robert Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. “There are only a handful of entertainment properties that have ever reached the $1 billion mark, which illustrates the power of the Call of Duty franchise and mass appeal of this game.”

Modern Warfare 2 is rated “M” (Mature) by the ESRB for Blood, Drug Reference, Intense Violence and Language. For additional information about the game, visit www.modernwarfare2.com.