The money machine that is Call of Duty continued its march on the record books, as Activision today announced that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 earned more than $400 million in its first 24 hours of worldwide release, making it the “biggest entertainment launch ever.” Retails moved more than 6.5 million copies of the game in North America and the United Kingdom alone during that one-day period.
Last year, Call of Duty: Black Ops had an estimated day-one sell-through of $360 million. In 2009, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 set day-one records with an estimated sell through of $310 million, according to Charttrack and retail customer sell-through information. For those of you taking notes at home, that means this recent milestone marks the third consecutive year the Call of Duty franchise has set launch-day records across all forms of entertainment.
We believe the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the biggest entertainment launch of all time in any medium, and we achieved this record with sales from only two territories,” said Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard, Inc. “Other than Call of Duty, there has never been another entertainment franchise that has set opening day records three years in a row. Life-to-date sales for the Call of Duty franchise exceed worldwide theatrical box office for “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings,” two of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time.”
In a separate announcement, Activision said this Veterans Day it donated $3 million to the Call of Duty Endowment, a non-profit, public benefit corporation that seeks to provide job placement and training for veterans. This latest donation will be added to the $2 million that Activision has already donated to the Endowment, which has provided more than $1.5 million in grants and scholarships to veterans’ organizations across the country since it was conceived by Bobby Kotick in November of 2009.