Call of Duty marches past $3bn mark

By Games Industry.biz Published 27 November, 2009

Activision's "greatest" has sold 55m units.

Colossal Modern Warfare 2 sales have nudged Activision's Call of Duty franchise over the $3 billion revenue mark.

The publisher announced today that the six titles in the series have combined to sell over 55 million units around the world.

Activision boss Bobby Kotick said this data - based on NPD, GfK Chart-Track and international data - has made Call of Duty one of the "greatest entertainment franchises of all time".

"If you consider the number of hours our audiences are engaged in playing Call of Duty games, it is likely to be one of the most viewed of all entertainment experiences in modern history," he added.

Modern Warfare 2 was released for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on 10th November. The game sold in incredible amounts during its opening-week and still tops the UK all-formats chart today, swatting away very strong competition from Assassin's Creed II.

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Comments (45) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • cianchristopher #1 2 years ago

    Nice!

    GO ACTIVISION!!!

  • KiLlerKnight #2 2 years ago

    How many news items about CoD sales do we need in a lifetime?
    Enough for me, thank you very much.

    And what is so nice about it, you have Activision shares?
    Edited by 2 at 27/11/09 @ 16:28

  • Quint2020 #3 2 years ago

    I'm sick of hearing about this fucking game.

  • INSOMANiAC #4 2 years ago

    MORE CALL OF DUTY STORIES PLEEEEEEEEEASE MORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRE !

  • 52pickup #5 2 years ago

    I suspect only bobby kotick gives a shit about these numbers

  • munki83 #6 2 years ago

    For some reason those figures makes me feel ill

  • Toadie48 #7 2 years ago

    Why is everyone negativing cianchristopher? He's only giving support to a company that has an awesome game and is getting awesome sales for it. Thats good news all round, hopefully we'll get more FPS that require skill and not the hundred of mindless shooters we see released every year.
    Edited by 1 at 27/11/09 @ 16:40

  • Apostle #8 2 years ago

    Bigger than Halo?

  • freakzilla #9 2 years ago

    Oh, actually that's not really THAT amazing. GT has managed something like 52m and its had 4 main plus 2(?) prologues. (if you add PSP version it goes up a bit I guess)

    And MW2 is technically COD6, minus the PSP games and any other spin offs.
    Edited by 1 at 27/11/09 @ 16:48

  • Hendo #10 2 years ago

    @EarlBassett

    Well done, you clicked on the link and also contributed a comment which helps keep the clicks running for more Modern Warfare 2 stories to come! Thank you for your involvement! Have a nice day, you idiot.

  • makeamazing #11 2 years ago

    Shame the series has gone downhill in MW2... I dont care if it sells a trillion, the latest version was rubbish!

  • Teamallstar #12 2 years ago

    Wow, there are a lot of people who get really upset about eurogamer posts...


    Anyway, activision deserve the recognition as the game is very good and is being enjoyed by millions.

  • hiddenranbir #13 2 years ago

    IW left EA because MoH games were too hollywood and IW's latest has done exactly what made them leave in the first place.

    Circle of Life!

  • X3Entente #14 2 years ago

    i was struck down with cold disbelief there, i read it as modern warfare 2 alone had sold 55 million units, i mean i know its sold obscenely well and everything but that would be just scary, i was relived when i re read it

  • Dave52 #15 2 years ago

    Of course there's another COD story - it's a huge, huge success. If there was a Hollywood Movie as successful as COD, the mainstream would be all over it.

    Well done Infinity Ward.

  • Raiten #16 2 years ago

    The sad thing about these news is, that every old school gamer knows we'll continue to see games with extremely short single player campaings and multiplayer, which has the same amount of mp content as just about any old fps game with proper length sp campaing.
    CoD4 was a nice game, tho too short sp campaing with good mp. CoD6 feels in every way just a rip off with its even shorter SP campaing and just about the same multiplayer as in the previous game.
    When we'll see fps games with lengthy sp campaings again ( by that i mean at least 10h+ on normal difficulty ) i'll join the lot in rejoicing about sales numbers.

  • UKLL #17 2 years ago


    So, it's cool to hate COD now?

  • AphoticCosmos #18 2 years ago

    Did I read that right?

    "greatest entertainment franchises of all time"

    As in

    "EA, I'm really happy for you, Imma let you finish, but Call of Duty was one of the best entertainment franchises of all time!"

    "OF ALL TIME!"

  • Les #19 2 years ago

    "greatest entertainment franchises of all time"

    My ass. While it's very impressive to convince pretty much all members of a niche group (young male gamers) to lay out a (ridiculous) amount of cash for a product, this 'greatest entertainment franchise' isn't even known by 90% of the people in the Western world...

  • shotgun44 #20 2 years ago

    I quite like the Call of Duty games. I can understand overload of marginally different stories becoming annoying but shunning the game because it's popular doesn't make you cool. Grow up and enjoy games, no matter how many people have played it. Just because you played Psychonauts, it doesn't make you boss of gaming.

  • Bravestinsane #21 2 years ago

    old bobby just creamed himself!

    No if he only get his greedy hands out of our pockets i will be happy.

  • The_Inquisitor #22 2 years ago

    I must be the only person in the world who stuck to the so called boycott. Don't get me wrong, I know I'm the one missing out, but at least I have an ounce of smugness to help me sleep at night.

  • Lawlost #23 2 years ago

    I can feel the backlash coming, cut down these tall poppies!

  • ps3owner #24 2 years ago

    am I the only one that doesn't like CODMW2 online ?

    1. the games take forever to launch
    2. too many weapons
    3. I prefer MW

  • hiddenranbir #25 2 years ago

    I must be the only person in the world who stuck to the so called boycott. Don't get me wrong, I know I'm the one missing out, but at least I have an ounce of smugness to help me sleep at night.

    I've not bought it. :) Hell, I've still kept my Kingdom Hearts 2 one going, can't even remember what SE did to piss me off!

  • Mercatoria #26 2 years ago

    So what's that in £?

    Plus the only time anyone should be using the word awesome is when Jesus H Christ comes back to Earth!
    Using the word awesome to describe an average game! why would you want to use it?
    Edited by 1 at 27/11/09 @ 23:59

  • Bazfrag #27 2 years ago

    55 million lethal injections will take some time to administer!

  • hiddenranbir #28 2 years ago

    I thought WoW was their greatest? :(

    Blizzard must be like WTF YO!?

  • des #29 2 years ago

    Ah poor haters,they can only hate and drool,while the rest of the world is playing MW2 like crazy.

  • Toadie48 #30 2 years ago

    Why did I get -13 when all I wrote was this:

    Why is everyone negativing cianchristopher? He's only giving support to a company that has an awesome game and is getting awesome sales for it. Thats good news all round, hopefully we'll get more FPS that require skill and not the hundred of mindless shooters we see released every year.

    Do u disagree? When good games like this get released, should we not buy it and instead petition for mini game compilations instead?

  • Emmit_Assassin #31 2 years ago

    @Les """greatest entertainment franchises of all time"

    My ass. While it's very impressive to convince pretty much all members of a niche group (young male gamers) to lay out a (ridiculous) amount of cash for a product, this 'greatest entertainment franchise' isn't even known by 90% of the people in the Western world..."""

    What the hell are you on? '90% of the western world don't know about MW2?' Either I'm reading your post wrong, and therefore I'm going to sound like an idiot, or I didn't read your post wrong, and you're the idiot.

    I've had so many people who don't even know what an FPS is or have never picked up a pad asking me about MW2.
    I've had more conversations with non gamers about MW2 than gamers.

    The advertising and hype on this game, good or not, is phenomenal, it's reached the conversational lips of almost 90% of GB, let alone wherever else there is a game shop or supermarket able to sell it.

    To say that 90% of the western world don't know about this game, or the franchise is a gross error.

    IMO
    Edited by 1 at 28/11/09 @ 20:07

  • Alterego-X #32 2 years ago

    With all this hype backlash, I would be genuinely surprised if Modern Warfare 2 would outsell the original MW's 13 million.

    Remember the previous "MOST POPULAR GAME EVER!", GTA IV, that also got a huge backlash.
    A year passed, and it is still struggling to outsell San Andreas, that it outsold TIMES TWO in the first weeks. Turns out, when people realize that reviews lied and it is not in fact the best game of the decade, they stop recommending the game to everyone, and it totally stops selling.

    Activision, and other big companies are using hype and first day sales to create an illusion of growth while they are in fact stagnating in market size, and even failing profits wise. MW2 was 200 million dollars to publish, it would have to outsell MW1 by several million units, or it will be even less profitable.
    Edited by 1 at 28/11/09 @ 20:21

  • Dgzter #33 2 years ago

    I found MW to be completely overhyped and far too short of a single-player campaign. As such, I haven't bothered to pick up MW2 after the reports of an equally brief (if not even more so) single-player element. I like the FPS genre, even in its overtly saturated state, but I have no interest in the multiplayer side of things and, therefore, struggled to get too excited over MW2.

    I also found the use of that Eminem song in the promotional advert to be rather crass, and I got exceptionally pissed off by the reaction, from the gaming community, to the Airport level: a huge amount of idiot fanboys who couldn't seem to fathom the fact that the debate was not about the old cliched 'video games can make people commit atrocities' argument, but rather about the potentially cynical inclusion of a scene, which lacked any sense of narrative context, in order to provoke controversy.

  • WillTheSecond #34 2 years ago

    Considering most people are paying around £40/45 for the game, I'm not surprised. A cinema ticket is anywhere from 5 to 8 quid, so if any game makes the same as a movie's box office, for instance, you're talking 4 to 8 times as many people seeing the film.

    Activision can chuck about figures like $3bn, and while that adds up to a significant audience I doubt very much it's a truly mass audience.
    Edited by 1 at 28/11/09 @ 21:26

  • RandomTerrain #35 2 years ago

    There's a lot of angry people here. I think this game is very well made and have had a lot of fun playing it with my friends. It's a good thing that the sales are high in my opinion.

  • Xerx3s #36 2 years ago

    "Considering most people are paying around £40/45 for the game, I'm not surprised. A cinema ticket is anywhere from 5 to 8 quid, so if any game makes the same as a movie's box office, for instance, you're talking 4 to 8 times as many people seeing the film. "

    While comparing, make a good comparison. If the film had an expectancy of roughly 20 to 50 hours and an equal pricetag, how many people would you think would visit it? You can't compare games and films, they are completely different products. If anything, games are way cheaper per hour of entertainment than films.

  • beckyh #37 2 years ago

    I have been waiting for this news to come in.

    In the US a billion is 1000 million, which is different to a UK billion. So going on the basis that it raised $3 billion which would be $3,000,000,000 (9 zeros) and the cost to make it was alledgedly $200 million (including development and marketing) which would be $200,000,000 (8 zeros) that is a lot of money and a lot of extra zeros.

    This is a profit margain of $2,800,000,000 ($2.8 billion). Which means it made 15x times it's cost. (assuming my crappy maths is correct).

    So where is the justification for the increase in the RRP?

  • FooAtari #38 2 years ago

    @des

    "Ah poor haters,they can only hate and drool,while the rest of the world is playing MW2 like crazy."

    What are you, 12 or something? Does everyone have to like the same games?

    I didn't get MW2 simply because I'm bored of CoD games. Wouldn't say I hate them, just no longer have an interest in them.

  • des #39 2 years ago

    A little correction,$200 million is "just" for MW2 and $3 billion is for the COD1,2,3,4,5,6.

    "What are you, 12 or something? Does everyone have to like the same games?"
    I wish i was:(...i would be then playing games on best gaming machine ever,C64.
    As for liking,no,different games-different audiences,but at the same time that doesn't mean that the game is bad or that it doesn't deserve it sales.
    Edited by 1 at 29/11/09 @ 12:37

  • beckyh #40 2 years ago

    Bloody hell that will teach me to read articles properly. Sorry I misread it :-)

  • Guildenstern #41 2 years ago

    Gamers love insipid gunwanks, news at 11. God that's so fucking depressing.

  • Nephirion #42 2 years ago

    The good thing about MW2 is there will be loads of pre-owned copies about, the difference between MW and MW2 is that on MW the multiplayer maps aren't shit. Play the single player campaign on Vet, complete in 5 hours then trade it.

  • loop7 #43 2 years ago

    Everyone is missing the main difference between MW and MW2 - spec ops! Even if you finish the single player mode in 5/6 hours (it's not a race), there's still a fair amount of game time in completing all the Spec Ops missions, especially at 3 star level, although I guess some will boast of having done them all in 1 go with their eyes closed...
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/09 @ 09:21

  • jefranklin18 #44 2 years ago

    @Bazfrag: 55 million lethal injections will take some time to administer!

    And yet would be so satisfying :)

  • vaughan42 #45 2 years ago

    Great. Now maybe those money sucking sons are barnacles can cut Blizzard some slack