Black Ops breaks pre-sale records

By Fred Dutton Published 8 November, 2010

Gets closer to "biggest game ever" crown.

Call of Duty: Black Ops has notched up more pre-orders at US games retail giant GameStop than any other title.

Senior VP of marketing and merchandising Bob McKenzie told Eurogamer, "As of last Friday we hit the largest number of reservations we've had on any release so far.

Jeepers, that's quite a claim. We asked Bob if he was referring to just title's released in 2010 or in GameStop's history. "Both," he replied.

Yes, it looks like Activision's FPS behemoth just took one step closer to fulfilling the "biggest game ever" prophecy offered by an HMV exec last month.

McKenzie added that he believes the identity of the studio behind the Call of Duty games, whether it be Black Ops' Treyarch or Modern Warfare's Infinity Ward, no longer has any bearing on customers' enthusiasm for the franchise.

"With each one they've done a better job," he explained. "They're both making quality products, they both have a strong following and they're both known for great gameplay."

Call of Duty: Black Ops launches around the world today for DS, PC, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360.

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About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (37) Latest comment 10 months ago

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  • dllord #1 2 years ago

    I never saw that coming!

  • Andeus #2 2 years ago

    McKenzie added that he believes the identity of the studio behind the Call of Duty games, whether it be Black Ops' Treyarch or Modern Warfare's Infinity Ward, no longer has any bearing on customer's enthusiasm for the franchise.

    aka Kotick wins.

    :-/

  • sfp_noodle #3 2 years ago

    Why does EG have an annual COD masturbation week? I don't remember any game over the last 5 years that has ever gotten the level of exposure that EG has given to this game series.

  • makeamazing #4 2 years ago

    I've finally just completed MW2, and it was complete tosh, just a scripted shoot/gun/run mess. Half the time you dont even get the chance to shoot people before getting shot.... i dont expect this to be any better designed, but i still expect it to get high marks, and obviously its going to sell lots, so i guess i am in the minority :D
    Edited by makeamazing at 08/11/10 @ 23:22

  • NewbieZilla #5 2 years ago

    "With each one they've done a better job,"
    I lol'd.

  • hiddenranbir #6 2 years ago

    To be fair, outside of the core gaming community, I don't think people cared who made CoD. Just the fact it is CoD is enough.


    @spf

    EG needs to get paid, it isn't as if they have that many games to review.

  • M4RV #7 2 years ago

    Depressing... Further goes to show the only thing we care about is shooting each other. Ohhh well...

  • sfp_noodle #8 2 years ago

    @hiddenranbir

    Sure they might not have that many games to review, but why does COD get more coverage than any other game, especially during its release week? No other AAA game gets treated to the same kind of trumpet blowing.

    Also, you say they don't have that many games to review yet we're still waiting for an NBA 2K11 and WWE 2011 review. They won't come judging by EG's history on those games. How do you defend that?

  • feistycheese #9 2 years ago

    So with Activision making COD a yearly franchise, can we expect year on year of exactly the same game breaking records?

    Games used to sell well because they were 'good', now it seems its all down to hype and pandering to the aggressive virtual needs of spotty teenagers who want to play Rambo.

    All hail the death of innovation . . .

  • Eraysor #10 2 years ago

    How dare the likely highest selling game of all time receive the most coverage out of any game on a gaming website!

    I'm sorry, but it simply makes sense.

  • Andeus #11 2 years ago

    @sfp

    It's a game that sells 20M copies, it's common sense (statistically too) that it's a piece of news the majority of a gaming's site's readers will be interested about. If there was, say, a new GTA you would see the same thing.

  • sfp_noodle #12 2 years ago

    @Eraysor

    It's the highest selling game of all time, not highest rated by any means. Other games have sold really well but gotten little coverage.

    An example? EG spent a review' s worth of pages reviewing the MW2 map packs yet didn't look at ANY of the map packs for Gears of War 2 or Uncharted 2, two excellent and very popular games. But no, EG aren't being biased towards the COD franchise at all right?

    It's one rule for COD and another for everything else with EG. That's the way it seems anyway.

    Edit- Spelling
    Edited by sfp_noodle at 08/11/10 @ 23:51

  • captain_Carl #13 2 years ago

    Does this mean you will shut up about it now?

  • actionfitz #14 2 years ago

    wish they would forget about single player and just give us a Zombie mode full game.
    only reason im buying this hehe.
    cynical bastards will prob do the same thing as last time - 1 zombie map per map pack :/
    and ill prob keep buying them :/

  • Haloboy #15 2 years ago

    EG masturbation week. I'm game!!

  • natashaspice #16 2 years ago

    so where are the reviews ?????

  • RandomRash #17 2 years ago

    I enjoyed MW2 alot including multiplayer and i like my single player games, 3 of my friends are getting this and so will i, don't want to be left out.

    fifa is out yearly as well as other sport games and people pay for MMO's, this is no different in that respect so why do people hate it so much?

  • dickothe1st #18 2 years ago

    Hence I'm buying NFS Hot Pursuit. Oh wait no. That's cos I know who my favourite developers are, as do most other gamers. Those who are pre ordering Black Ops are the same tossers who only own an xbox and one copy of modern warfare. At least it keeps the dick heads all in one place. Heres to NFS and Assassin's Creed this month :)

  • whoyouknow #19 2 years ago

    I nearly went for it when I saw Tesco's £25 with Points deal, until I realized that I have never, ever enjoyed a Call of Duty game, and buying this would be madness.

    Playing as JFK against zombies is a concept I'd like to see explored in its own IP, however.

  • Andeus #20 2 years ago

    @RandomRash

    Don't get confused, MMOs are something very different. The amount of content you receive in a MMO subscription, dwarves what you get from a "regular" game like, say CoD and it's DLCs. The only exceptions I can think of are Valve's games on the PC; TF2 for example has received tons of content, as if it were a MMO, free of charge.
    Even Fifa is getting better and more realistic each year, plus you get updated rosters and more options.

    And now we move to Black Ops.Personal opinion:
    Ι watched the multiplayer trailers that lately float around EG and, to be honest, if the video was not named "Black Ops" I'd think that I was watching MW2. Besides the resemblance, at it's heart it's still the same 18-player game we all know: A highly polished version of CS with leveling/perks (honestly think about it, it's the same thing) that even seems to play it in the same way as it's predecessor. For me, MW2, is not even the best multiplayer FPS, I consider BC2 and TF2 to be better. So: overhyped.

    But as you said, if my friends bought it, I'd go for it too. No matter what game you are playing if you can play with friends it's gonna be fun. So good for you.

    Also, statistically, a game with that many sales is bound to have more idiots plaguing the community and MW2 is not an exception. One more reason to drive me away from it.

  • Ashcroft #21 2 years ago

    I wonder why it takes Treyarch 2 years to make a bunch of map packs for Infinity Ward's game?

  • Andeus #22 2 years ago

    Oh look a kiddy starts swearing on the interwebs! Hit a nerve or something with my personal opinion? Or is it that you lack reading comprehension?
    Edited by Andeus at 09/11/10 @ 01:50

  • clockworkzombie #23 2 years ago

    I am glad when Treyarch delivers a CoD game. I recently played some online World at War and the maps are superb, there were more people playing it the MW2.

    I hope Treyarch delivers on the map packs too, the WaW maps are way better than the MW2 maps.

  • DaDon123456 #24 2 years ago

    FFS, why do people complain when some games get a lot of coverage? I remember people bitching about the numerous articles about Halo Reach. People are obsessed about COD and Halo, there are bound to be lots of articles covering them. Get used to it, if you have a problem, dont click on the fricking link!

  • DaDon123456 #25 2 years ago

    @xNick

    Mate the guy said its his own personal opinion. No need to be so mouthy.

  • CaptainKid #26 2 years ago

    This will be the first COD game I buy.
    This shit is sooo popular I can't ignore it any longer.

    And MW2 singleplayer was excellent.
    Such high quality non frustrating game play.

  • BabyJesus #27 2 years ago

    *Sigh*

  • abot #28 2 years ago

    So far on metacritic there is one review - a 70. At least someone has bollocks.

  • Iain815 #29 2 years ago

    I've been playing it for a few hours and I am not impressed. Visuals are awful compared to MW2, voice acting is dreadful and it's all rather dull. MP looks pretty much the same as usual too.

  • dllord #30 2 years ago

    Why is the review not up yet? Im not sure what version to get 360 or ps3?

  • Fab4 #31 2 years ago

    Save your money. Get CoD3...24 player, 1 hour long games, well-designed maps, proper P2P netcode, no perks and no kill streaks...every mode is 'Hardcore' mode :p

    Its 4 years old today and still has plenty of people playing it....you know it makes sense :p

  • FooAtari #32 2 years ago

    @xNick

    Was your Mum on the development team or something? Every time someone says anything other than Black Ops is the best shit since sliced bread you start mouthing off and insulting them.

    We are all different, all have our own opinion and like different things you know...

  • FortysixterUK #33 2 years ago

    I feel sorry for those folks that went to the Game midnight opening and paid £39.99 for 1 title to allow them to get COD for £25.00 as one of those titles was Castlevania.

    Myself, I utilised plays monday sale to get Castlevania for £17.99
    Then went to tesco and took up their deal of getting COD for £25.00 if you bought 2100 ms points for £17.49, which will now be used to buy the addon for Red Dead Redemption. Tesco trully was the best and most practical deal.
    (Amazing factoid:- Ordered this online at 13.34 hours on 8th November.
    Get email at 16.10 hours same day, both items have been posted ! How good is that ?)

    On the other hand, those that went to the opening will probbaly live and breath this game online for the next 6 months, so either way, it's money well spent for them....

    Damn....I can see both side of the argument here....and this post manges to totally negate itself.

  • kinky_mong #34 2 years ago

    @feistycheese: "Games used to sell well because they were 'good'"

    Really?! It's been a trend for at least the last 15 years that games with a movie licence, yearly updates to a franchise or heavily advertised turds sell loads while the real gems fail to light up the charts because they're not advertised to the shitmunchers.

  • arcam #35 2 years ago

    Really?!

    Yes, really. I know it''s hard to believe now...

  • craziii #36 2 years ago

    yearly updates will milk any franchise dead and dry. lets see how long kotick can milk this one. look at how fast the music ones died under the constant milking.

    why don't they give us the numbers instead of "breaking pre sale records"?

  • james-mw3-mw3 #37 10 months ago

    Infinity Ward decided that MW3 will immediately follow the events of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Every country is under attack, the press won't like Call of Duty: MW3 direction. Hopefully the new Modern Warfare 3 weapons, perks and killstreaks will make up for it!