After making its extremely anticipated debut earlier this week, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has managed to bring about sales of 6.5 million units within twenty four hours of its release, and that too in North America and U.K. alone. According to Charttrack and retail customer sell-through information, the estimated sell-through of this launch is said to be more than 400 million USD.
On November 8, 13,000 midnight openings are believed to have taken place at retail stores around the world. This is apparently the third consecutive year that the Call of Duty franchise has set day one launch records on all forms of entertainment. In 2009, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 had an estimated sell through of 310 million USD on day one. A year later, Call of Duty: Black Ops generated an estimated sell-through of 360 million USD upon its release day.
“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. 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,” commented, Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard.
Yesterday, as part of the American Veteran’s Day celebrations, Activision also announced a donation of 3 million USD towards Call of Duty Endowment, which is a non-profit and public benefit corporation that looks to provide job placements and training to war veterans. Since being launched by Bobby Kotick in November, 2009, this corporation has supposedly offered more than 1.5 million USD in grants and scholarships to veterans’ organizations in the U.S.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which has already garnered day one sales of 6.5 million units, can currently be purchased for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC at a price of 59.99 USD (approx Rs. 2,956).