Modern Warfare 2 Kicks UK Sales Record's Ass

John Funk

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Dec 20, 2005
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Modern Warfare 2 Kicks UK Sales Record's Ass



Modern Warfare 2 was in the UK to kick ass and drink tea, and apparently, the UK was all out of tea - MW2 smashed the single-day sales records by a staggering amount.

Yes, yes, we all know that CoD Mewtwo has more than its share of controversy surrounding the title, but that hasn't stopped the game from being bigger than sliced bread. Here in the States, it was GameStop's most pre-ordered game [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/95897-Modern-Warfare-2-Is-GameStops-Most-Preordered-Game-Ever] of all time, and while our tea-sipping cousins across the Atlantic might not like manly gunfights in real life as much as we do, they were still looking forward to MW2 quite a bit.

Okay, perhaps more than quite a bit: The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) has announced that MW2's "astonishing" day-one performance has effortlessly set a new record for most copies of a game sold in a 24-hour period.

I don't mean to simply say that "MW2 sold really well," either. Not only did MW2 easily break the record set by Grand Theft Auto IV back in April '08, as John Romero would say, it bent the record over and soundly made it its *****. GTA4 sold an estimated 631,000 copies in 24 hours, which is certainly impressive, but Infinity Ward's shooter fell the tiniest bit short of doubling it, selling 1.23 million units in just a day. Oh, and it earned an estimated £47 million ($78.3 million) in first-day sales.

"These first day sales figures are astonishing and clear evidence that video games are now mainstream in the UK," said ELSPA's Director General Michael Rawlinson. "...interactive entertainment has completely come of age."

It's such a feat that it's almost hard to wrap my head around. GTA4 was huge, but MW2 sold twice as many copies in the same amount of time. It's really, really mindboggling if you think about it too much - which I advise you not to.

Our UK readers will have to pardon me, as my Brit-slang is rusty: What's British for "holy crap"?

(Via Joystiq [http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/11/as-easy-as-1-23-million-modern-warfare-2-breaks-first-day-uk-sa/])

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scnj

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Nov 10, 2008
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At the Gamestation by me, they made £6500 in an hour at the midnight launch, so this news hardly surprises me.
 

mikecoulter

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Dec 27, 2008
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This is just mind bending.

Oh by the way... British speak for "Holy crap" is "Oh my!".
 

Dogstile

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Jan 17, 2009
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CantFaketheFunk said:
Our UK readers will have to pardon me, as my Brit-slang is rusty: What's British for "holy crap"?
I can tell you the swearing way, or i can tell you the non swearing way

go with "bloody hell", that works :p

mikecoulter said:
This is just mind bending.

Oh by the way... British speak for "Holy crap" is "Oh my!".
Or that, that works also, britain has many different ways of expressing our excitement.

Littaly said:
Say hello to your new price tag on Activision games UK ^^
You realise we all paid about £20-£30 for it right?

we paid almost nothing for that game, i'm getting my copy delivered tomorrow, its so cheap over here!
 
May 28, 2009
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CantFaketheFunk said:
Our UK readers will have to pardon me, as my Brit-slang is rusty: What's British for "holy crap"?
"Cor blimey", if you think we all sound cockney.

On my list of Xbox Live friends there was a never-ending line of people with the game. I guess in the face of extortion we just buy more, though I've seen low-priced versions now.
 

klc0100

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Feb 29, 2008
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There were more people getting the game in Sainsburys for £26 yesterday than there were people buying food.
 

Razorback0z

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Feb 10, 2009
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You know back in the day when Escapist was an online PDF only stumbled across by Pro Gamers like me...

I seem to recall one of the very first stories was "The Mainstream is Coming" where the author both applauded the direction of gaming into the mainstream and lamented the fact that our little hobby was going to be popular and that being a "game nerd" wasnt going to be quite so exclusive anymore.

Well it would appear that if there was any doubt left about gaming being a hobby for the majority and not the minority... its been put to bed now.

Sad in a way...because the quality is definately suffering for the popularity just like modern music. But good because as the novelty of churning out garbage wears off the mass market, the games should in theory start to improve again. Hopefully this is the start of soemthing good and not something bad.
 

Jabbawocky

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Sep 3, 2008
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Littaly said:
Say hello to your new price tag on Activision games UK ^^
Yeah most Sainsburys were selling it for £26 and Asda for £32 so its not like we can be certain £55 will be common.
 

A Raging Emo

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I was actually very disapointed by the length of MW2's Campaign. I finished it in a single sitting! ... But then again, I do finish games very quickly.
 

fix-the-spade

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Feb 25, 2008
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CantFaketheFunk said:
Our UK readers will have to pardon me, as my Brit-slang is rusty: What's British for "holy crap"?
Bloody Hell!
Or further south.
Bugger me!
There you go, I've teached you some English. Here in the North we don't like them in the south...