Black Ops may be "biggest game ever"

By Robert Purchese Published 13 October, 2010

UK shops see record pre-orders.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the UK's best selling game ever, but retailer HMV has reason to believe new instalment Call of Duty: Black Ops will beat it.

"We're seeing some exceptional interest for this title across its different formats," HMV's senior buyer James Brooks revealed to Eurogamer. "Particularly our co-exclusive on the Prestige Edition on HMV.com, where stock is nearly sold-through now and very little is left.

"Based on all this initial demand and the huge excitement that's clearly being generated, I'd say this title has every chance of being the biggest game release ever, and it's certainly shaping up to become the largest pre-order that we've seen in-store and online on HMV.com."

A pre-order chart on fellow retailer Play.com echoes the sentiment; Black Ops is top on Xbox 360, second on PS3 and the Hardened Edition 10th on Xbox 360. However, a spokesperson for Play.com said "no comment" could be made about whether the game will "break any existing opening week sales". "[Play.com is] still in a wait and see scenario," we were told.

Glance around and the story is the same. GAME couldn't tell Eurogamer anything, but Call of Duty: Black Ops sits merrily atop its pre-order chart on Xbox 360 (the PS3 version is second, PC ninth). And Amazon lists Call of Duty: Black Ops on Xbox 360 as its second best seller behind FIFA 11.

But there's one retailer going against the grain: ShopTo. Marketing manager Phil Driver told Eurogamer "COD will be in our all-time top 10 sellers", but added Activision's game "won't be top".

"We are expecting Gran Turismo 5 to be our greatest ever seller," he said, citing a low price and a ShopTo-exclusive deal as the reason why.

Earlier this month, US mega-retailer GameStop touted record pre-orders for Call of Duty: Black Ops. "We are ahead of where we were with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 last year, which previously set the industry standard," bigwig Bob McKenzie commented.

Call of Duty: Black Ops, developed by Treyarch, will be released on 9th November.

Last month Xbox 360-exclusive Halo: Reach became Microsoft's "biggest" game release ever, beating all previous Halo games.

Reach took $200 million in 24 hours, making it 2010's biggest entertainment release so far - even bigger than the three-day opening weekends of films Iron Man 2, Alice in Wonderland and Toy Story 3.

A bullish Microsoft predicted, pre-release, that Halo: Reach would outsell Call of Duty: Black Ops, although analysts went on to challenge these claims.

Activision's previous Call of Duty game, Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2, was crowned the UK's best-selling game of all time in August this year. The shooter took 41 weeks to accomplish the task, and lifted the crown from previous leader Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training on DS.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is also the fastest-selling UK game ever, after shifting over 1.7 million copies in just five days. By the end of 2009, Modern Warfare 2 had amassed 11.86 million sales - 8.82 million of which were done in the US.

Modern Warfare 2 game sales were glorious, then, but DLC also did well: Activision noted that there had been 20 million DLC sales (at 1200 MSP/£11 a pop) by the end of June 2010.

War in the napalm of your hand.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (53) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Freek #1 2 years ago

    Seems nowadays every game release is "the biggest something something ever", until the next biggest thing ever releases a few months later.
    We're running out of hyperbol fast!

  • spekkeh #2 2 years ago

    I hope Just Dance 2 pisses all over this.

  • iamian #3 2 years ago

    Wonder how many people pre-ordered MW2 when the supermarkets were selling it for £20 though?

    Honestly I can't see it happening... MW2 was hugely anticipated, friends that aren't really gamers were talking about it non stop before release where as I've not heard a peep out of them for Black Ops...

  • adofessex #4 2 years ago

    Does anyone know anything about the storyline or setting of this game yet, I can't make it out from screenshots or videos :\

  • Quint2020 #5 2 years ago

    Is it that your a soldier and there's people you have to kill, some vehicle sections you have to participate in and some scripted events you have to experience?

  • Spydy #6 2 years ago

    Not interested personally. Huge MW2 fan, but I'm not sure Treyarch can deliver decent maps and a sufficiently enhanced gameplay experience. Crysis 2 and Killzone 3 have my FPS mind share at the moment.

  • Fab4 #7 2 years ago

    "Based on all this initial demand and the huge excitement that's clearly being generated, I'd say this title has every chance of being the biggest game release ever.."

    Oh well, I guess that's FPSs fucked for the foreseeable future.

    Edit: Btw Spydy, Treyarch make maps that make IW's look like they were designed by pre-schoolers.
    Edited by Fab4 at 14/10/10 @ 09:15

  • ouchio #8 2 years ago

    All the little brain dead sheeple chavs and their call of duties... Sad, very sad.

  • coolbritannia #9 2 years ago

    I love quality shooters, B:BC2, Reach, MW2, loved them all. Finding it hard to get interested in Black Ops though, I'm more looking forward to the tards from reach leaving for Black Ops and leaving Reach a better place for it.

  • jebus #10 2 years ago

    @adofessex "Does anyone know anything about the storyline or setting of this game yet, I can't make it out from screenshots or videos :\"

    Some Black Ops behind enemy lines shot some other guys for 4 hours the end. Probably

  • Wander #11 2 years ago

    Everyone who buys this is stabbing ex-Infinity Ward developers in the back and giving big Bobby K a cuddle whilst whispering "love your work"

    ...a bit much perhaps, but you get the sentiment.

  • GarethBale3 #12 2 years ago

    really is no one getting a bit tired of FPS yet? I enjoyed MW2 as it was fun not very realistic but fun which is why I play anyway.

    IMO opinion the big pre orders are down to more gamers in general and the fact we are coming to the end of this gen despite the move and Kinect in 2 years I expect some new hardware

    more gamers more demand for games- there are many old skoolers out there as well as the constant kids getting in to games

  • Tonne #13 2 years ago

    there goes another great franchise down the drain,
    say hi to tony hawk proskater for me when your there

  • ChthonicEcho #14 2 years ago

    Considering that Black Ops will be different from Modern Warfare 2 purely because it's a different developer, never mind different design choices, and MW2 fan base being comprised of self-proclaimed hardcore people that do not like change, I'm sure few of them will move to BO.

    It's sweetly ironic that Activision's aggressive entrepreneurial approach to establishing a franchise brought them both success and imminent failure. EA already went through this entire cycle, which is why they develop and publish better games nowadays. They've learned. So will Activision, in time.

  • CygnusReactor #15 2 years ago

    After my wife forked out £45 quid for my christmas present (MW2) last year and sitting finished it in about 5 hours of play without trying, my money is going elsewhere.

  • FogHeart #16 2 years ago

    I'm never gonna be sick of FPS but I'm so, soooo tired of their brainlessness.

    There's a bit in Bad Company 2 where they catch a mercenary of Russian origin. The guy in charge takes him aside and the rest of the team lay bets on how long he'll take to make the merc spill some info. Behind them, the leader calmly talks to the merc and the merc talks back. Then it's over. He tells the team what he did to make him talk. He said words to the effect of, "I told him what they were planning to do with the weapon. He told me straight away - he has family in Houston."

    Now why can't it all be like that? Understated, intelligent, humorous, in touch with the realities of the world. Every other military shooter would have dramatic music, an automatic shoved into the merc's mouth and someone shouting "TELL ME WHERE THE DEVICE IS!"

  • Tinrib72 #17 2 years ago

    Call of Snoozy..

  • RobTheBuilder #18 2 years ago

    Eurogamer love Shop to don't they! A nice GT5 price plug!!

  • coolbritannia #19 2 years ago

    Fogheart, I concur, Bad Company 2 really is a marvel.

  • SteveHolt #20 2 years ago

    They're breaking records so often, that reminds me of those sports where everyone is high on performance-enhancing drugs.

  • kangarootoo #21 2 years ago

    @TheDellBingo

    I was reading on gamesindustry.biz the other day that EA shares dropped 6% in response to bad MOH reviews (76% mc average at time of writing) and that EA themselves described the poor reviews as "a black eye".

  • arcam #22 2 years ago

    Apple shares dropped after the release of the iPad, and that seems to have done OK - I don't think that means anything bad for EA, it's just the market settling to a more natural price IMO.

  • OllyJ #23 2 years ago

    I'm looking forward to it, World at War really suprised me, I much prefered it to MW2.

  • coolbritannia #24 2 years ago

    And my Ted Baker coat is the perfect blend of style and comfort this season, what's your point?

  • sonicyoda #25 2 years ago

    Meh, I'm waiting for Call of Duty: Brown Ops.

  • MinerWilly #26 2 years ago

    I'm still having far to much fun with BFBC2 to bother with any more CoD's . I remember last year i bought MW2 on release and then about 2 weeks later the BFBC2 beta began and i spent more time on that single map from the beta than I have yet to play MW2 . I still haven't played it since .
    I used to love the single player CoD campaigns on PC but its multiplayer was never fit to lace the boots of BF1942 , BFV , BF2 , BF2SF , BF2142 etc . The last single player campaign was just a load of embarrasing propaganda and the multiplayer was a big step back from Cod 4 .
    Roll on the release of the Battlefield Vietnam expansion . Even if Black Ops is better than MW2 (and i have nothing against Treyarch as WaW wasnt bad) i wont be getting it as there is no teamplay , too many little kids and spotty snotty teenagers crying or playing music that it really gets on my wick.
    Battlefield is for the more mature players and old buggers like me.
    Edited by MinerWilly at 14/10/10 @ 10:37

  • geeza2020 #27 2 years ago

    :(

  • layleeloo #28 2 years ago

    Borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrred shitless of this generic game already. It's not even out yet and it's pissing me off
    Edited by layleeloo at 14/10/10 @ 11:07

  • thedaveeyres #29 2 years ago

    Really looking forward to this.

    There, I said it. :p

  • kangarootoo #30 2 years ago

    @arcam

    Well EA themselves seem to think the bad reviews would affect them. These are EA's own words, documented in the article I mentioned. They talked about adjusting sales predictions in response to the poor reviews. THEY said that. Whoever negged my post is just shooting the messenger.

  • layleeloo #31 2 years ago

    @Cygnusreactor. You obviously played about half of it on easy. I'm no mw2 fanboy but a tip for any modern FPS no matter what it is, play it on the hardest setting from your first go!! You won't finishnit in 5 hours thus getting more moneys worth. I refuse to play most modern games on normal anymore since gaming has become much easier to cater for the masses

  • Douche #32 2 years ago

    I think it will sell more than Reach and i think it will be the biggest game until the next instalment. That's the way it is.

    And, all the people hating Call of Duty really need to get over their hatred of Activsion/ Bobby Kotick, the over priced DLC and whatever else is annoying them and appreciate COD for what it is - a game that is well made and a lot of fun to play both online and off that is certainly played by more than chavs.

    All the hatred within COD articles on this site really is getting pretty tiring.

  • coolbritannia #33 2 years ago

    I don't hate it Douche, I'm just bored of it. I haz COD fatigue i think, they need to do something more exciting with that franchise.

  • RevanNL #34 2 years ago

    I hate Activision and I wasn't planning on getting this but after seeing some of the new multiplayer options it does look like an improvement over MW2.

  • I\'mListening #35 2 years ago

    Bored of COD now and Captain Haddock ain't doing much for me these days...

  • layleeloo #36 2 years ago

    @Douche "it will sell more than reach". Durrrrrrrrr. What, a multi platform title on everything bar a Nokia 3210 will sell more than a platform exclusive - What, ya think?!?!? No shit sherlock
    Edited by layleeloo at 14/10/10 @ 11:25

  • Douche #37 2 years ago

    @coolbritannia,

    I understand that - once a year is perhaps too much of a similar experience for some people.

    What direction do you think they can take it? A versions set in the future is a certainty. It's also a certainty to be derided on this site. Destructible environments maybe?

    Who knows, I’ve like what I’ve saw of Black Ops so far though. Particularly some of their ideas for multiplyer.

  • Douche #38 2 years ago

    @layleeloo

    The 360 version of Black Ops OBVIOUSLY!

  • homerbert #39 2 years ago

    If games companies really want people to feel sorry for their problems with piracy and the second hand market, they should probably stop dickwaving about how much money they're making.

  • kangarootoo #40 2 years ago

    @TonyCorleone

    Your post is the biggest fail in this thread mate.

  • Golgo #41 2 years ago

    @TonyCorleone:

    Aggressive posting on a videogame forum during the working day is the quintessential sign of failure.
    We're all passengers on the fail-train here.
    Welcome home.

  • Golgo #42 2 years ago

    Fail can also be calculated by the speed of response to the previous post, which indicates the poster is hovering above the keyboard waiting to be offended afresh. Yours and my response time places us in the top 2 percentile of fail. Go, us!

  • kangarootoo #43 2 years ago

    @TonyCorleone

    The reason I call it fail is because it entirely centred on one rubbish joke, the joke being that you used the word fail a lot (seriously, the "welcome to XXX town, population you" gag died out with the dinosaurs).


    Oh christ, you couldn't even make this shit up! Can you possibly believe that I wrote the above BEFORE clicking on your link.

    And then I clicked on it.

    And there staring me in the face was a sign reading "welcome to fail - population you". If that isn't the text book definition of predictability and FAIL, I don't know what is. The irony is beyond belief. Nobody is stealing your fail crown anytime soon. Its welded on.

  • Guildenstern #44 2 years ago

    Now this is just sad.

  • coolbritannia #45 2 years ago

    Yeah Douche I agree the customisation options and game modes, like 1 bullet, wager matches etc seem pretty cool, but it's not enough to get me off Reach so far. I'll probably give in to the hype closer to release though, I know more of my friends will buy this than Reach and playing with them will be why I buy it.

  • makeamazing #46 2 years ago

    Will only get this on a free rent, i am getting pretty bored with these overly scripted games... MOH was a good idea that failed because of poor implementation, while MW2 i hated because it was just poor... the only saving grace is that its Trearch, and WAW was ok, if a little retro.... so it might be ok.

  • The_Beef_Hammer #47 2 years ago

    "Not interested personally. Huge MW2 fan, but I'm not sure Treyarch can deliver decent maps and a sufficiently enhanced gameplay experience. Crysis 2 and Killzone 3 have my FPS mind share at the moment."

    I'm a big MW2 multiplayer fan, even bigger COD4 fan, and Black Ops is definitely getting my attention. I think most people are just jumping on the 'Treyarch are shit" bandwagon whilst declaring their love for Infinity Ward. These are the people that forget MW2 single-player was just a big hard-on for the good ol' US of A and the most incoherent story ever written.

    I think we should give Treyarch some credit. The maps in WAW were pretty damn good IMO

  • Lunatic4ever #48 2 years ago


    MW2 was praised when released and a year later everyone is hating the game like they never enjoyed playing it.
    All of sudden its cool to hate the game.

    I dont get it. I mean I stopped playing it,too but why u all hating?

    And considering Black Ops. Well i don't like Treyarchs work,so i will pass.

  • SteveHolt #49 2 years ago

    @TonyCorleone: welcome to Ignored Poster City, population = you.

  • RedSparrows #50 2 years ago

    I'd hardly say BFBC2 was a marvel.

    'Russia is invading the world. Here are some only slightly less scripted encounters, and some vehicles'

    Still, was good fun.

  • Quixz #51 2 years ago

    Nope! little bobby is not getting my money!!

  • darkmorgado #52 2 years ago

    Black Ops may be "biggest disappointment ever"

    Fixed.

  • evilrobot #53 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 22:12:53 08-05-2012