Black Ops II Generates $500 Million in 24 Hours

[MikeWehner]

Black Ops II Generates $500 Million in 24 Hours

In case you were wondering, Call of Duty is still very, very popular.

Showing no signs of slowing down, the Call of Duty franchise appears to once again have another top-selling title on its hands. According to Activision, Black Ops II managed to rake in over $500 million within 24 hours of its worldwide debut. This gives the franchise the "Biggest Entertainment Launch" title for the fourth year in a row.

In an official press release, the company boasts that over 16,000 stores held midnight openings around the world to get the game in the hands of customers as soon as possible. It goes on to note that Black Ops II was a top Twitter trending topic in 23 cities, and the company's Surprise [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120381-Celebrities-Wage-War-in-New-Black-Ops-II-Trailer] launch advert has topped 30 million YouTube views.

"Call of Duty has become more than a product people buy, it's become a brand people buy into," says Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. "And every November we do more than just launch a game, we kick off an annual, unofficial but worldwide phenomenon called Call of Duty season."

No unit sales figures have been revealed, and it's difficult to estimate a number of copies sold given that there are multiple versions of the title at differing price points. Still, half a billion dollars within the first day of release should be a pretty good indication that lots and lots of gamers are already waging futuristic war on each other.

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[Falterfire]

May I be the first here to provide an expected over the top criticism of how Call of Duty is somehow the embodiment of everything wrong with the industry today?

Because I figure we may as well get that out of the way up front and save like four pages of forum thread.

 

[Meight08]

I miss the times when Call of Duty was a good PC shooter instead of a crappy console shooter.
OT:I wonder how many copies would be sold if kids were unable to buy this game.

 

[Terramax]

Eh, just the zeitgeist top seller. In the late 90's it was Tomb Raider for instance. I'm not upset it's selling so well. It makes people happy. Doesn't affect me enjoying the games I play.

 

[TheSapphireKnight]

Good for them, I like what I have seen and heard about BO2, I just can't bring myself to pick it up knowing there will just be a new thing next next year and regardless of its quality support for this will be dropped almost immediately.

Even with yearly releases it wasn't an issue until about MW2 where there were two distinct populations with less crossover so both CoD A and B could be supported. Now that it is just waiting for the next CoD rather than say the Infinity Ward or Treyarch entry.

 

[knight4light]

what i want to know. how much did it make on the 360 alone. *looks over at halo 4's 220 million*
just saying

 

[Gearhead mk2]

...*sigh* When it's nearly complete, I am going to find where they box MW4 and replace every disc with a copy of Spec Ops: The Line. Make the gunwank fan's heads explode. Who's with me?

 

[wooty]

I can honestly say that I'm embarrassed to have spent £40 of my hard earned wages on this shit. So much for giving things a second chance.

This is easily the worst game I've ever fucking played.

 

[Apollo45]

I can honestly say that I'm embarrassed to have spent £40 of my hard earned wages on this shit. So much for giving things a second chance.

This is easily the worst game I've ever fucking played.

Buddy of mine works at Raven studios, so him and his whole office got it for free. They get on to play it on Tuesday and, surprise surprise, half of them can't even get on the game because it's broken. They tried again yesterday, played for a bit, and decided that for the most part the game is shit. In addition to the usual release-month issues that plague those games (lag, balance issues, spawning issues, etc) apparently Treyarch decided to not pay any attention to what the background scenery looks like, so half the time you get shot at from a dark blob of space and simply can't tell where the guy is. The other half of the time the twitch-shooting aspect, combined with lag, makes it nearly unplayable.

Needless to say, I don't think I'll be picking it up any time soon.

 

[Reaper195]

The thing that I find annoying about Activision boasting about how awesome CoD is...is that Black Ops 2 is actually good. It's better than any of the CoD games released so far. Characters that talk (Fuck mute characters!), characters that are actually memorable, actual cut scenes, a campaign longer than four and a half hours...and Zombies being more than just a single map with wave after wave of zombies!

As for the multiplayer...FPS multiplayer stopped evolving about ten years ago.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

The thing that I find annoying about Activision boasting about how awesome CoD is...is that Black Ops 2 is actually good. It's better than any of the CoD games released so far. Characters that talk (Fuck mute characters!), characters that are actually memorable, actual cut scenes, a campaign longer than four and a half hours...and Zombies being more than just a single map with wave after wave of zombies!

As for the multiplayer...FPS multiplayer stopped evolving about ten years ago.

Absolutely this. I played it at my brother's house because he's there at midnight every year, and I couldn't believe the amount of...soul this game has. Heart. The characters aren't just dispensers of B-movie one-liners and half-baked exposition. I appreciate more than anything that the single player campaign wasn't just an afterthought to train you for multiplayer.

EDIT: I also was amazed that the game's opening moments wasn't a "blowing its load" action fest right off the bat. And that the first playable area was a nice wide open field. A lot of levels actually have breathing room and feel open, as opposed to the office buildings and outdoor areas gated into hallways of the past. It feels more like a "real" COD game than MW2-Blops-3 ever did at their best moments.

 

[alik44]

Bought it Played it

to be honest its mostly Meh yeah they actually tried to make the single player worth a dam for once but still has the major problem of big disconnect between story and game play. the story is easily almost every conspiracy nuts wet dream and as i played through i still had no idea what the overall goal was who the hell these people were and why i should give a dam. all and all meh not bad but not good either.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

...*sigh* When it's nearly complete, I am going to find where they box MW4 and replace every disc with a copy of Spec Ops: The Line. Make the gunwank fan's heads explode. Who's with me?

If you're supplying the discs, I'm in. Are we intercepting shipments, going undercover at the production line or breaking and entering every retailer we can find?

 

[RubyT]

The Bible is the best-selling book ever.

Is such information news? Is it meant to encourage sales, or reassure buyers of the popular correctness of their decisions?