Modern Warfare 3 Beats Avatar's Fastest-Selling Record

[Greg Tito]

Modern Warfare 3 Beats Avatar's Fastest-Selling Record

Activision's shooter made $1 billion in 16 days.

Remember Avatar? That James Cameron joint with the blue guys and the jingoistic storyline? Remember how much everyone went crazy for a while and waited in line to see it in 3D, paying higher ticket prices and making a metric crapton of money (or $1 billion) in just 17 days [http://new.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/97770-Avatar-Becomes-Highest-Grossing-Film-Ever]? Well, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 reached the same milestone one day quicker. That's right, MW3 hit the $1 billion mark in 16 days, prompting Activision CEO Bobby Kotick to continue to place CoD in the entertainment franchise pantheon.

"Engagement of our Call of Duty audience continues to rise around the world" said Kotick in a release today. "Call of Duty as an entertainment franchise has made an indelible mark on popular culture and its broad and continued success is further validation that audiences increasingly value interactive experiences over passive experiences."

Take that, movies, TV and books. Videogames are coming for you!

The same press release put Call of Duty on the same shelf as the most well-known entertainment franchises ever created. "Call of Duty is now amongst that rarified group of sustained franchises like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and the National Football League (NFL) that attract or engage tens of millions of people every year or every new release," said Activision.

It may seem odd that Activision lumped its military shooter CoD with sports and fantasy stories, but that's all a part of the messaging. The videogame publishing giant wants CoD to be an institution that continues for a long, long time, and hopefully to rival the overall profitability of those properties.

Given that 30 million people currently play Call of Duty games and the Elite subscription service has one million subscribers already, it doesn't look like EA or anybody else is going to topple Activision's shooter any time soon.

Source: Activision [http://investor.activision.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=632389]

Permalink

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I like CoD and I still think this is fucking ridiculous.

The game had nothing that warrants this amount of success, while games like Okami are left on the wayside.

Ain't that right Ammy.

Damn straight Ammy.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

And then I die a little inside.

 

[ShockValue]

Not that surprising.
I am looking forward to all the hate in the comments. You never fail to disappoint when it comes to that Escapists

 

[CardinalPiggles]

I still can't believe people are paying for what is just bungie.net just to get a slight discount for that over priced DLC, it's still not fucking worth it is it? One million people in the world took an arrow to the knee

Anyway, I enjoy CoD too, but to place it on such a high pedestal because of sales figures... it just proves what is wrong with these people.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Huh. Moral of the story is apparently that James Cameron should re-release Avatar every year with slightly better CGI.

 

[wooty]

Once I get over the mass amounts of shock regarding this revelation I can go back to not giving a toss anymore....................Avatar was crap too, noticing a pattern here people

 

[Korten12]

I still can't believe people are paying for what is just bungie.net just to get a slight discount for that over priced DLC, it's still not fucking worth it is it? One million people in the world took an arrow to the knee

Anyway, I enjoy CoD too, but to place it on such a high pedestal because of sales figures... it just proves what is wrong with these people.

Um... Elite is mostly free, and you don't get a discount, you get it for FREE. Geez if you're going to insult it, at least get your facts straight.

 

[Dendio]

How are they making so much? Witcher 2 had 5 million illegal downloads. What is activision doing to prevent pirating of modern warfare 3? Whatever it is, others need to follow.

 

[Folji]

I'm just wondering how soon it'll be before the Call of Duty bubble bursts. That's usually what eventually happens every time Activision decides to release a new installment in a series every single year for half a decade (if not a whole).

 

[GaltarDude1138]

Oh well...

I didn't buy that game, but I rented it, and dear god is that game one of the least deserving of the CoD series.

Som

 

[Ciler]

Huh. Moral of the story is apparently that James Cameron should re-release Avatar every year with slightly better CGI.

Along with scripts that are even more over the top each time.

 

[Vanbael]

Why am I not surprised. BUT! I wouldn't put them in league with the NFL, OR EVEN LORD OF THE RINGS! It isn't that good of quality to stack up to lord of the rings, all they had was good advertising and that sold it. And don't get me started on the fan boys...hate them more than the game...

 

[dragongit]

Now tell us that one where you walk on water, and cured Cancer with MW3 activison, I love those stories. It's sad though that games like Psychonauts get very little attention, yet generic shooters which is already the third in a series, gets billions in revenue. Like how cheap indie games had sparked a revolution (of which I support for the most part) The sucsess of games like MW2 will encourage companies to continue to produce generic Modern shooters while others try and tap into the market. You hardly see AAA creative games like you might have years ago. Games with the budget to get what needs to be done, and the creativity to not be a carbon copy of something else that's already sucsessful.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Huh. Moral of the story is apparently that James Cameron should re-release Avatar every year with slightly better CGI.

Along with scripts that are even more over the top each time.

Oh, and I forgot the obligatory POV character death(s).

 

[Drenaje1]

This is an endless cycle. Soon, the next Call of Duty will be discovered, MW3 will get shoved into the shit pile, and we will all move forward and start liking the next CoD in the series for 4 months. I'm still hoping that somewhere along the way, the masses are finally going to realize that they're paying the developers a crap load of money, when the developers haven't even made an effort to produce a polished product. I'm looking mostly at Youtube commentators. What's that? You hate THIS one too? Stop giving it publicity. You must know by now that it's terrible, don't buy it. Oh, wait, that's what people's entire Youtube careers got started on. To quit it would be to lose all of your viewers.

Let the endless cycle continue.

 

[Sixcess]

One million subscribers for Elite?

Anyone else see the irony in singleplayer games going subscription based while MMOs drop that model?

Because if CoD can charge a sub then other franchises are going to do the same. I bet EA is already rubbing its hands with glee and looking at... well, everything.

 

[TheRussian]

My feelings are best expressed by one word, one that determines success in today's media:
MARKETING

 

[Korten12]

One million subscribers for Elite?

Anyone else see the irony in singleplayer games going subscription based while MMOs drop that model?

Because if CoD can charge a sub then other franchises are going to do the same. I bet EA is already rubbing its hands with glee and looking at... well, everything.

What SP games are going sub? Also Elite is for the multiplayer.

 

[Jharry5]

I'm a fan of CoD but this... this isn't really that surprising, is it? I'm not sure why it's gone on to make the amount its made in the time it did, but it must be doing something right.
That said, MW3's (or, more accurately, MW2.5) probably one of my least favourite entries in the series.

Not even going to comment on Activision's comments... CoD as big as the NFL or Star Wars?! I'm not really seeing MW as having quite the cultural impact as A New Hope, to be honest.