Latest Call of Duty video game smashes $1B record
Posted December 14, 2011 9:54 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Video game juggernaut Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has reached a major milestone surpassing the $1 billion US in sales mark in record time.
Game creator, Activision Publishing Inc., said Modern Warfare 3 reached the mark in just 16 days: faster than all-time, movie box-office champ Avatar, which took 17 days.
In the Call of Duty game, players take on the role of special forces resisting a Russian invasion of the United States and Europe.
Six million people have registered online to play the game since its launch on Nov. 8. More than 30 million people have played a Call of Duty game since its debut in 2003, the company said.
“Call of Duty has become that rare entertainment franchise that transcends its own genre. Core gamers love it, as our stellar reviews show. But every year, new people are drawn into Call of Duty,” Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, said in the statement.
The franchise has also reached another milestone: its premium online service Call of Duty Elite has more than one million premium subscriptions sold to date since Nov. 8.
Activision said that by comparison, the premium subscription services of Netflix, Hulu Plus, Sirius XM and Xbox LIVE, did not reach one million paid subscribers until almost one year after their respective launches.
