Black Ops is best selling game ever in US

By Fred Dutton Published 10 March, 2011

COD's NPD chart domination continues.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is now the best selling video game of all time in the US, according to The NPD Group.

The Treyarch-developed shooter topped the US sales charts yet again for the month of February, taking it past Wii Play and to the top all-time sales list.

Elsewhere in the monthly NPD countdown, there were new entries for Marvel vs Capcom 3 at number two, Bulletstorm at seven, Killzone 3 at eight and Mario Sports Mix at 10.

Here's how the full chart panned out:

  1. Call of Duty: Black Ops
  2. Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
  3. Just Dance 2
  4. NBA 2K11
  5. Dead Space 2
  6. Zumba Fitness: Join the Party
  7. Bulletstorm
  8. Killzone 3
  9. Michael Jackson: The Experience
  10. Mario Sports Mix

Total software sales were down five per cent year on year but up on last month, with the top 10 titles selling six per cent more than in February.

On the hardware side, Xbox 360 came out on top and enjoyed its biggest non-holiday sales month ever, shifting 535,000 units. The Wii sold 454,000 units, making it the fastest console ever to pass the 35 million mark in the US. Sony is yet to divulge numbers for the PlayStation 3.

Picture of Fred.

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 (45) Latest comment 10 months ago

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  • coolbritannia #1 1 year ago

    *Imperial March*

  • abdo #2 1 year ago

    God damn it.

  • inutaihanyou #3 1 year ago

    US my country, i is disappoint.

    First Sony's best games like Ico and SOTC being bested by a mod like BO, and now the entire country fairs the same thing? Damn it.

    Well atleast MVC is selling well.

  • Jolly_Armadillo #4 1 year ago

    Be ashamed of your country be very ashamed

  • captain_Carl #5 1 year ago

    Ew. Why? WHY?

  • coolbritannia #6 1 year ago

    Of all the things the US should be ashamed for, buying Black Ops is pretty far down the list.

  • inutaihanyou #7 1 year ago

    "Of all the things the US should be ashamed for, buying Black Ops is pretty far down the list. "

    Don't get me started on the truth to that statement. I couldn't live anywhere else however considering that i consider this place to be a "work in progress", even if it is pretty slow going. But this isn't the place for political talk

  • darkmorgado #8 1 year ago

    GAME AIMED AT REDNECKS PERFORMS WELL IN REDNECK TERRITORY SHOCKER!

  • coolbritannia #9 1 year ago

    'But this isn't the place for political talk'

    It's also not the place for stories about the US, but they still post them daily.

  • inutaihanyou #10 1 year ago

    True, but its still news, same as articles about Last Story being Japan only, should it be banned because its only in Japan?

    The same goes for the Netherlands acquisition of the PS3's this week
    Edited by inutaihanyou at 11/03/11 @ 00:48

  • Vroom #11 1 year ago

    Congrats to Treyarch.

  • coolbritannia #12 1 year ago

    No, because a game being Japan only is relevant to the UK, as we won't get it, and the Netherlands is Europe, and this is Eurogamer (sorry, I don't mean to sound dickish or sarcastic here).

    However, Black Ops sales figures in the US, and Microsoft trialling US Live initiatives has nothing to do with the UK.

  • northzzz2 #13 1 year ago

    I am actually interested in the profit made by this game because the amount marketing was kind of unreal and that's expensive also taking into account what the game cost to developing (i'm kind of thinking it's a bit equal for both aspects money-wise). Anyway marketing sells so if you can afford it then do it because you will win. Basically no big studio film loses money regardless of what it costs anymore as long as it's marketed correctly.

    /Hollywood approach

    Anyway i don't own this game but i don't live in the US so i'm not important here.
    Edited by northzzz2 at 11/03/11 @ 01:25

  • darkmorgado #14 1 year ago

    I doubt the game cost much to make at all to be honest. It used an established engine, used the same multiplayer system with just a couple of tweaks here and there to make people think it had changed, and the campaign was only about 5 hours long so it wasn't exactly epic.

    One of the main reasons Acti barely change the formula is because it's cheap as hell to just farm out a yearly update again and again, and frees up more money to use a marketing blitz to distract people from the fact they are just buying the same game for the fifth year in a row.

  • darkmorgado #15 1 year ago

    Microsoft trialling US Live initiatives has nothing to do with the UK.

    In fairness, that article clearly stated that MS would be releasing the initiative in other territories at a later date, so we may as well have the info now.

  • Noble6 #16 1 year ago

    @coolbritannia

    Shut up, you're embarrassing all of us.

  • sfp_noodle #17 1 year ago

    I found a scratched copy of Black Ops today at a market stall for £15. "Why not?" I thought to myself. Wanktivision won't get my money and at the very least I can make a tenner off it on eBay. Put it in my 360, played for about 10 minutes, looked away in disgust at how they ripped off Zombie Apocalypse with Dead Ops and then sat there scratching my balls wondering why the graphics looked so poor for a game into it's 8468462834628th iteration. Oh, and the 2 matches I played online was full of camping twats lobbing grenades from one side of the map to the other. With at least half a second of lag. What an amazing and innovative game more of us need to buy this!

    The worst part is is that I have now unlocked achievements which mean this shit stain is forever etched onto my gamercard. I couldn't list it on eBay fast enough :(
    Edited by sfp_noodle at 11/03/11 @ 02:01

  • darkmorgado #18 1 year ago

    The worst part is is that I have now unlocked achievements which mean this shit stain is forever etched onto my gamercard. I couldn't list it on eBay fast enough :(

    That's why I got MW2 on PS3 - so I wouldn't have it staining my gamercard. Played it for two hours our of morbid curiosity, realised I would never get those two hours of my life back, and sold it for a proft on ebay.

  • sfp_noodle #19 1 year ago

    @darkmorgado

    In all fairness though Modern Warfare 2 wasn't that bad a game. At least it improved the COD4 formula, BLOPS does fuck all to advance the game's tired mechanics in any way. How Treyarch managed to fuck up netcode that has been so consistent over 4 years is one thing, but the dated graphics, repetitive gameplay and ridiculous campaigns need to end. The series is in dire need of a make-over. What's funny is that COD4 was the first modern day shooter that was successful. There were hardly any before it. Now there's so much shit set in the current day and age that it's gotten boring at a much faster rate than WW2 shooters. They still had charm and proper stories to tell at least.

    Going back to Killzone 3 immediately after putting down BLOPS just highlighted how old and boring the formula has become. The classes in KZ3 and the levelling up system is superb. Every single weapon has it's advantages and disadvantages. The best part is that no matter how far you develop a certain class, there are always weaknesses which mean your not utterly invincible and end up with a final score of 58 kills and 2 deaths. In COD, you can pretty much go with a machine gun/greande launcher combo, slap on the scavenger perk and run around blowing people up with infinite ammo. Where's the fun, or more importantly, the point, in that?

  • dsmx #20 1 year ago

    I remember when something similar was said about medal of honor : frontline, deja vu is setting in for Call of duty as the same set of events has almost happened again.

  • Andee #21 1 year ago

    I really don't understand why this sells so well. It does nothing better any other fps, and lacks any of the innovation seen in other titles. It doesnt even seem to be advertised much (that i've noticed anyway), so what makes all these folk go out and buy CoD?

  • atrimus #22 1 year ago

    "Hey, let's not only hate the game, let's hate the people who like the game too." a strange sort of mentality from such an anti-American group, considering such a sentiment is typically thought of as very American.

    as for the game, i own it, and while i think it does nothing to merit such sales, i still think it's a fun game. it certainly isn't as bad as most of the commenters here seem to think. i'm generally more anti-Activision than anything, but at this point the Activision hate is about as stale as people claim their franchises are.
    Edited by atrimus at 11/03/11 @ 03:59

  • gamerhuggster #23 1 year ago

    "lol typical american intellect "US my country, i is disappoint."
    You know what mate, I think he was being ironic. Sheesh, I hope he was!
    If brainless casual gamers are gonna be suckered in by barely updated gaming formulae year after year, more fool them... Right, I'm off to try and beat my highscore on Space Giraffe!

  • aaronali #24 1 year ago

    Great. Congratulations. Moving on...

  • jonsaan #25 1 year ago

    Modern Warfare snobbery. It's a bit like people's favourite band getting too big to be cool anymore.

  • inutaihanyou #26 1 year ago

    "You know what mate, I think he was being ironic. Sheesh, I hope he was!"


    Yeah, i was just kidding, i didn't know stereotypes were so prevalent but what can ya do.


    (For future reference, might wanna google "i am disappoint" for the memetically unaware.)


    As i said before, i'm glad MVC3 is still going strong (although i hate the roster), but BO as i've said before, does not deserve any of the accolades it has, whether its the sales numbers or the initially high review scores.

    There's just no way you should be able to use a 5 year old game engine that you took from another more talented studio, tweak it to .9th of a degree and then put it out as a completely new game and get rave reviews and automatic sales. WAW didn't go so far on the sales front, which leads me to believe that the sales figures of BLOPS are only because of MW2's sales blitz and people who aren't in on the gaming scene just pick it up because its the latest game in a popular franchise.

    Just by principle considering Activision's other franchises, emboldening Kotick in this manner is not good for the industry at large. Because its caused other FPS developers to want a piece of that pie, and therefore take away their own originality in the process. Who didn't sigh when BF3 was announced and Dice said "we want to do what everyone else is doing", well...EA already did that! With MOH to be exact and look how that turned out?
    Edited by inutaihanyou at 11/03/11 @ 08:01

  • CaptainQuint #27 1 year ago

    It's like Crazy Frog got to No.1 again.

    Blegh

  • ruslan74 #28 1 year ago

    This only means a Treyarch sequel is in the cards for Crappyvision to create. Sad.

  • Sodding_Gamer #29 1 year ago

    @SPF NOODLE

    My god your comment made me LOL. You couldn't of said it better. I'm ashamed not only I bought the game for ps3 (dear lord) but I too am ashamed that I have to live with those trophies. Good job I barely play my ps3 online!

  • Dizzy #30 1 year ago

    >Sony is yet to divulge numbers for the PlayStation 3.

    A bad sign.

    But I am sure the PS Ecosystem will be ok.

    Anyway.. rather high hardware numbers. Didn't expect that in Februari. I wonder if this will be good news for the 3DS. Americans seem to have money for new hardware.
    Edited by Dizzy at 11/03/11 @ 10:15

  • FireMonkey #31 1 year ago

    @Coolbritannia - "It's also not the place for stories about the US, but they still post them daily."

    The US is the biggest gaming market and is the location of most devs and publishers. US news is relevant as what happens there effects what the devs and publishers do with their games and hence what happens to our games.

    You make it sound like you have no interest in the thoughts and opinions of others. Is this just on a countrywide level or do you not care about things happening in different cities, towns or houses or even in the lives of other people you know? If so, you must be very lonely.

  • kinky_mong #32 1 year ago

    Black Ops the best selling game of all time in the States and Kinect the fastest selling product. A sad day for gamers indeed.

  • geeza2020 #33 1 year ago

    Dear oh dear, when are people going to wake up and realise they're playing the same game they played 4 years ago?!?! I won't ever buy another Activision game, thats for sure. They are a cancer that needs to be cut out of the gaming industry but I feel this particular tumour maybe malignant :(

  • coolbritannia #34 1 year ago

    FireMonkey, I already qualified my statement....

  • miiiguel #35 1 year ago

    I found a scratched copy of Black Ops today at a market stall for £15. "Why not?"

    Funny. I'm not interested in BO I won't buy it, period. "Why not"... yeah..., ppl should admit they are slaves to the hype.

  • higganos #36 1 year ago

    "Dear oh dear, when are people going to wake up and realise they're playing the same game they played 4 years ago?!?! "

    What? You mean like, Fifa, Tiger, Madden, NHL, Pokemon and Halo?

  • doragor #37 1 year ago

    @darkmorgado

    "That's why I got MW2 on PS3 - so I wouldn't have it staining my gamercard. Played it for two hours our of morbid curiosity"

    Christ, it's just a video game. You wouldn't have it 'staining your gamercard' and yet you purchased it?! Wtf?

    I rented Black Ops, enjoyed it because it's pretty good, end of story. Amazing immaturity in these comments.
    Edited by doragor at 11/03/11 @ 11:35

  • Pike #38 1 year ago

    Why is the 360 selling so well all of a sudden? Is it the Kinect that has taken off?

  • joelstinton #39 1 year ago

    Here we go again. 75 odd comments on all how we are too cool to play COD. Yawn.
    Funny how its also the best selling game here as well... does that mean we are bunch of hobbit like incest breeding jibbering fools who like to shoot things. No. Talk about US politics, people and rednecks, f off.

    The fact that people get upset that this game appears on there gamercard is frankly laughable.

    Don't get me wrong, i'm not cod biggest fan, but its no way bad as what people make it out to be. Half an hour here and there online is quite fine.

  • waggy79 #40 1 year ago

    Maybe its not gaming hell, maybe its an ok game, but to suggest people dislike it to follow the crowd or to be cool sounds pretty dumb.
    I have my own reasons for disliking blops, and the two games before it (quick scoping, grenade spamming, spawn camping, dull cut n paste campaign, etc...), i still claim cod4 to be a classic however.
    I think its more the fact that talented studios who try to make innovative games, maybe take a risk on an idea, get shut down because all the masses want is the same game each year dressed up in new clothes.
    Edited by waggy79 at 11/03/11 @ 12:37

  • ScarboroughKID #41 1 year ago

    Isn't that a pretty poor showing for Killzone 3? 8th in it's first month on release, which (typically) is less that 200,000-300,000 units.

  • Pickster #42 1 year ago

    Call of Duty is suffering the same way the Matrix sequals did. So many people too quick to display their hate that they lose sight of what a truly bad game/film actually is.

    I was never personally sucked into the whole Call of Duty whirlwind. The first call of duty game I played was Modern Warfare 2 as I was given it for my birthday. Shortly afterwards I found Modern Warfare for 9 quid so I picked it up, last November I grabbed Black Ops from Sainsburys for 27 quid....

    I knew what to expect and how much I was willing to pay for it. In my opinion the Black Ops campaign is worth 7/10, not the best experience in the gaming world, but there are far worse, buggy, broken and outright unplayable games out there.

    For what its worth I do think, for what it is, that Black Ops has sold an undeserving amount.

  • joelstinton #43 1 year ago

    @waggy. Comments like that are fine, and i agree with you. At least you have explained why. I brought de blob2 over killzone3 for that reason. But its the same old comments on here all the time that are getting tiring. And i don;t think, personally that, the crowd statement is that dumb, i mean loads of people play COD because of that reason, there friends play it, otherwise games like Battlefield would get the commercial recognition it deserves. Over the last two years, the attacks on the COD franchise has been over the top, because it has been succesfull. There be a time, when Killzone will go through the same treatment. Bands in particular go through this as well. I don't like activision, or kotick, but i won;t come on here and spout trash about something that isn't that bad.

  • Dj_ade_76 #44 1 year ago

    Fail

  • james-mw3-mw3 #45 10 months ago

    I find it funny that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (abbreviated as Call of Duty: MW3 or simply MW3) is currently in development by Infinity Ward with assisted development from Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software co-developing multiplayer development, e.g. weapons, maps, perks, etc. That's a lot of developers making MW3!