Call of Duty: Black Ops day-one sales hit $360M

Treyarch's latest first-person shooter tops Modern Warfare 2's launch day total by $50 million in North America and UK alone to claim "biggest entertainment launch in history" title.

Last year, Activision touted the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as the biggest launch in entertainment history. The Infinity Ward-developed military shooter launched November 10, 2009, and racked up North American and UK sales of $310 million in its first 24 hours on sale.That record stood for slightly less than a year, as Activision COO and CFO Thomas Tippl today announced at the BMO Capital Markets 18th Annual Digital Entertainment Conference that Call of Duty: Black Ops racked up day-one sales of $360 million at North American and UK retailers. Activision later revealed unit sales for the game, saying Black Ops sold through 5.6 million copies in those markets, compared to 4.7 million for Modern Warfare 2.

"I have every confidence that Tuesday's sales are just the first milestone in what will be a tremendous year for Call of Duty and for our company," Tippl told the conference. While Black Ops has enjoyed a strong debut, its longer-term prospects have been the subject of speculation. Pacific Crest analyst Evan Wilson said the game wouldn't be able to match Modern Warfare 2's holiday quarter sales of 16 million copies, "due to competition, weaker marketing, and the Infinity Ward situation." Activision fired Infinity Ward cofounders Jason West and Vince Zampella in March, prompting a wave of Infinity Ward developers to jump ship to West and Zampella's newly formed Respawn Entertainment.

Set in the middle of the Cold War, Black Ops depicts a number of Cold War-era covert operations in countries like Russia, Vietnam, and Cuba. The game represents new territory for the series, which has previously focused on more familiar World War II and modern-day settings.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is now available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, and PC. For more information, check out GameSpot's review.


Source: Gamespot News

Feck me... That's pretty awesome dude

Thats a lot of money for just 1 day.

Congrats to Treyarch! I know they fixed up a few problems in Black Ops from the previous Modern Warfare games (mainly issues with the Grenade Launchers and such). Looks like they also brought back Nazi Zombies as well from World at War, which I know everyone loves (and I hear it's pretty hard as well). Still have yet to play the game, but when I get the chance I certainly will run through it all.

I didn't see that picture before, but wow. Some of the people I know bought the game and haven't slept since.

Smith6612, on 15 November 2010 - 01:05 AM, said:

Nazi zombies really completed the game and made it more enjoyable.... Damn german nazi zombies xD

The graphics have really improved as well compared with Modern Warefare 2 to me anyway

Apparently you can drive vehicles too. I think that would be a plus for me. Love vehicles.

Yeah you can, Although some of the controlling is crappy

Its overall an incredibly awesome game but I think that MW2 had a better multiplayer mode
Woohoo nazi zombies!!!

Jamie, on 15 November 2010 - 10:07 AM, said:

Don't forget about Arcade Zombies too! First thing many people I know did was break out of the chair and go to the PC left of where you sit at the main menu.

Yeah, that's a really fun game mode. I found out that, that was originally what they were gonna do.