They’ve done it again.
Call of Duty: Black Ops has broken box office, book and video game five-day sales records with Microsoft announcing a record 2.6 Million unique players and a staggering 5.9 Million multiplayer hours logged by the end of launch day.
Activision estimates that the Call of Duty series’ $650 Million trawl has become the first entertainment property in history to set five-day launch records for two consecutive years with this November’s offering smashing Modern Warfare 2’s figures by at least $100 Million.
Activision Blizzard CEO, Robert Kotick says this success illustrates the mass appeal of interactive entertainment and demonstrates how online gaming has become a mainstream form of entertainment.
Activision Publishing CEO, Eric Hirshberg reserved due praise for Treyarch, the somewhat maligned ‘other’ developer in Activision’s quiver, who must now be enjoying the fruits of their labour.
“There are many reasons for the success of Black Ops, but first and foremost is the fact that our team at Treyarch delivered a truly awesome game, and in the process have established themselves as one of the most talented developers in the world.”
There are no official figures for the Ps3 as of yet but the CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA), Jack Tretton said: “Treyarch’s latest efforts are driving unprecedented traffic to the PlayStation Network with the flagship online experience.”
Retailers both regular and online are rejoicing with Amazon.com and GameStop boasting their best-selling video game launch figures.
“Call of Duty: Black Ops had the highest number of pre-orders of any video game to date,” said GameStop CEO, Paul Raines. “It went on to become our biggest video game launch ever, which bodes well for game sales as we enter the holidays.”
Hirshberg was keen to point out that it was his company’s role to keep players coming back for more and Microsoft reminded us of the exclusivity agreement it has with the Call of Duty franchise to release additional content before other platforms.
With these two statements coming just over a week after release date, it doesn’t look like we will be waiting long before some Black Ops DLC is announced.
Game on.
SOURCE: Activision Publishing, Inc.
