MW2 doubles GTAIV first-day sales

By Robert Purchese Published 11 November, 2009

Activision pockets 47 million quid.

Modern Warfare 2 has sold 1.23m copies in the UK in one day, smashing the previous record set by Grand Theft Auto IV (631,000 units).

That performance made Activision around £47m, whereas Rockstar made only £27.2m.

"These first day sales figures are astonishing and clear evidence that videogames are now mainstream in the UK," said Michael Rawlinson, boss of data collector ELSPA/GfK-ChartTrack.

Modern Warfare 2 was released yesterday, on Tuesday 10th November. Our review is clear and visible to all.

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.

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

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Comments (86) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • Pedrolot #1 2 years ago

    Pfft..I earn that in erm....

  • Shadders #2 2 years ago

    Mother of God

  • the_dudefather #3 2 years ago

    HEY CASSIN, WANT TO GO ICE CLIMBING?

  • mg1011 #4 2 years ago

    Good game then.

  • jonsaan #5 2 years ago

    Amazing. I wonder what percentage of those were 'me too' purchases and people who have up until now never played a COD game? There seemed to a whole load of that going on at my work yesterday that's for sure.

  • Horse #6 2 years ago

    How much did it cost to make?

  • ps3owner #7 2 years ago

    Our review is clear (no) and visible (yes) to all.

    btw. I haven't got one yet :(. damn it.

  • bodypopper #8 2 years ago

    @Shadders
    Mother of CoD surely?

    MW has had two years of healthy sales so a day one result like this isn't surprising.

  • bdaggers #9 2 years ago

    Huh ?

    How does that work out ?? Are you seriously saying that the average sale price of MW2 was £38 ?

    How many people on here paid more than £32 - let alone the switched on majority of £25.99 purchasers.

    And surely you mean retail sales of the product totalled £47 mil, coz Acti sure don't take every penny of the retail sale.

    Sorry EG, news article fa

  • bdaggers #10 2 years ago

    ^ Eg App formatting fail

  • myiagros #11 2 years ago

    Does that £47million take into account that a lot of people paid less than half the £55 RRP for it?

    In my case at least, as with many others i suspect, £26 was too low to resist, but i would never have paid anywhere near the price Activision wanted for it.

  • el_pollo_diablo #12 2 years ago

    So if any of you paid full RRP for this game, thanks very much. You've just told Activision that their arsehole pricing experiment was a massive success.

    And if you got it for £25, then can I borrow it after you've finished please? :)

  • miiiguel #13 2 years ago

    I did pay 62 quid though.. :/

    But..., on this side of the canal this is no "Activision experience" it's "normal".
    Edited by 1 at 11/11/09 @ 17:32

  • NorUraeus #14 2 years ago

    Probably quite a few people who bought one of the many special editions too. The one from Game with the figurine was actually quite nice.

  • Paulie_P #15 2 years ago

    I bought it and no matter how much I shower, I still feel dirty contributing money to Activision.
    Edited by 1 at 11/11/09 @ 17:36

  • twh104 #16 2 years ago

    As good as Halo then?

  • Tomo #17 2 years ago

    Jesus wept at this news.

    That said, I wonder how much it made globally. It's an astonishing amount. I think to top the UK Film Box Office you generally need an opening week of £10-12m - does that sound about right? £47m dollah in one day :o

  • Pablo2k5 #18 2 years ago

    Nice single player mode but waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too short for the money.

    ...and I'm not interested in the MP seen as Infinity Ward hobbled it for PC gamers. Fuckers.

  • chessboxer #19 2 years ago

    I got the Prestige Edition (£119.99 - pre-ordered in July). HMV's stock sold out quite quickly for both PS3 & 360 pre-orders.

    £47M for 1 day sales and that's just the UK? How many units shifted in the US?

  • ziggy_played_guitar #20 2 years ago

    "Nice single player mode but waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too short for the money."

    Even if played on Vet?

  • rotmm #21 2 years ago

    To bdaggers and everyone else saying, "well, I only paid £26 so Activision made less from me," then sorry, you're wrong.

    Activision make their money from the sell-in price to retailers, not the sell-out price to customers. So if Sainsbury's, Asda and the other major supermarkets want to sell to us consumers and below cost price, then they take the hit and not the publisher. So we win because we are buying at below cost price, Activision win because they are selling to supermarkets at their normal trade price and supermarkets (hope to) win because it gets people in their stores where they then may spend money on groceries.

  • Wolverfrog #22 2 years ago

    Bloody hell, that's incredible. And IW even said they turned down a large budget from Activision.

    Huge Profit.
    Edited by 1 at 11/11/09 @ 17:46

  • Dr.Mott #23 2 years ago

    I feel quite proud to be able to say, "I did not contribute to that ridiculous figure in the slightest."

  • vegard #24 2 years ago

    Some of these posts are giving me a serious case of deja-vu.

  • miiiguel #25 2 years ago

    I imagine that this game not only doubled GTA figures but it also must've quadruple the profit - GTA must've cost much more to produce than this.

  • Malek86 #26 2 years ago

    In the UK only? Damn...

  • space_ace #27 2 years ago

    so, any news on that new game, mw2? :)

  • LFMartins #28 2 years ago

    @miiiguel:

    I only payed £43 and i received it on the launch day through the mail. And i live on the same country as you do only i live on the Azores, which means that the mail takes even longer to get here.

  • Linkified #29 2 years ago

    Fuck everyone who bought this game you have now officially risen the price of all games, from £40(online) to £45(online) now.fuck everyone.

  • miiiguel #30 2 years ago

    @ LFMartins: True..., though I wasn't really interested in the game, but then I saw them shiny boxes :}

    But... I didn't contribute to that figure. You did! (not that I really care tbh, a product is worth the price you personally think it's worth. For example WoW is way too expensive for me - whatever the price it has - as I don't have the time to play it, MW2 on the other hand will probably be worth the 62£, easy...).
    Edited by 4 at 11/11/09 @ 18:06

  • naffers #31 2 years ago

    they didnt make that much money, cos a Shit Tonne of those sold in the uk will have been from sainsburys at £26 and asda at £32

  • meggsy #32 2 years ago

    I had to check http://ww w.gamesindustry.biz/articles/mo... to find out that these sales figures were for just the UK as from the article I wasn't quite sure.

    But it is, and that's a lot!

    Edited by 1 at 11/11/09 @ 18:07

  • Anthony_UK #33 2 years ago

    Is that sales in the UK or total sales?

  • Artemus #34 2 years ago

    Shame the game is riddled with bugs.

  • beastmaster #35 2 years ago

    Doubtful that this will lead to a price increase. There's plenty few games that would get away with it. FIFA and NFS perhaps?
    Edited by 1 at 11/11/09 @ 18:11

  • Ninja_Tino #36 2 years ago

    If a Supermarket sells a game for £26 it doesn't mean that £26 goes to Activision and if a shop sells it for £45 it also doesn't mean that Activision get £45 now does it? Think about it guys.

  • youhavenomail #37 2 years ago

    What about all those £45 pre-order copies that are currently on their way back from whence they came? Are they being included in these astonomical first day figures?

  • FooAtari #38 2 years ago

    It's not that good it just isn't

    Not saying it's a bad game, it's very good. But not that good.

  • Malek86 #39 2 years ago

    @Ninja_Tino: if I were to make an estimation, I'd say Activision pocketed about 18-20 millions in all. Of course, considering it's just the UK, this is still darn impressive...
    Edited by 1 at 11/11/09 @ 18:17

  • urban #40 2 years ago

    sigh

  • spatss #41 2 years ago

    Sickening.

  • Ringot #42 2 years ago

    (Besides demos) I have never played a CoD game! Does that make me a bad person? Down vote me now!

  • curtlikesmeat #43 2 years ago

    I don't think Activision are thinking long term with their pricing - I imagine the small retailers didn't get much share of the pie on this release. Supermarkets have probably sold loads and loads as loss leaders and in order to muscle in on the market, however once all the small shops are out of business it'll then be the supermarkets that control the price and games overall will come down just like dvds have.

    I might be wrong but that makes sense to me.

  • Malek86 #44 2 years ago

    Well, if any game has a chance of finally surpassing Halo 3's first week sales (on one platform, I mean), it's this one.

  • The-Bodybuilder #45 2 years ago

    EG, the spokespeople of Infinity Ward.

  • chrisola #46 2 years ago

    there is no excuse for the SP game being a bit short...not with there clearly being more story for the characters to come...that's my only gripe. Oh, and we need some of the MW 1 maps on multiplayer already!

    The sales figures are proof that no matter how many threads people post about RRP pricing or boycotting until it's cheap, it had no effect on actual sales. And, that you can still buy any game cheap if you know where to look, thanks to supermarkets :D

    Imagine if all the effort people put into bad mouthing and posting negativity on teh internet was instead put into making these games, it'd be the golden age of video gaming :p

  • Kapo! #47 2 years ago

    Just picked up my copy for £25.99 in Sainsbury's. Nice nice!

  • Rodriguez #48 2 years ago

    £47m! That should just about cover Bobby Kotick's bonus for another year then...

  • beastmaster #49 2 years ago

    Just wonder how long this will continue? Ubisoft's decision to move Splinter Cell to next year seems like a good move now. But will sales of this game have an effect on AC2 or L4D2?

  • TheBoyChris #50 2 years ago

    The Halo effect, now known as the CoD effect.

  • spekkeh #51 2 years ago

    I bought the game from a Dutch retailer (mediamarkt), but I'm pretty sure I got a UK copy. I think many mainland European shops are buying their copies in the UK what with the low pound and selling them here. So I'm wondering how much the number is inflated by this.

  • IneptPercy #52 2 years ago

    "So if any of you paid full RRP for this game, thanks very much. You've just told Activision that their arsehole pricing experiment was a massive success."

    Actually everybody who bought it said its fine, just because companies decided to make less profit or even a loss on it. Activision still make there money.

  • castertroy #53 2 years ago

    Not bad I guess!

  • bdaggers #54 2 years ago

    My point is - how did WG arrive at their figures. I'm well aware of their Nett price to retailers being independant of the Retail price we pay.

    I'm asking - what figure is true, and which is extrapolated from the other ?

  • hiddenranbir #55 2 years ago

    Tough luck PC community, your voice has drowned.

  • Beige_Alert #56 2 years ago

    Ouch, the PC-people wont be happy about this. Its hard to get your boycott noticed with sales figures such as these.

  • JayG #57 2 years ago

    On the plus side more publisher's might start doing simultaneous releases. Those extra 3 days always feel like torture when u been waiting ages for a release.

  • Gormless #58 2 years ago

    Good stuff now with all that cash they can fucking fix it so i can actually play it!

  • Synthesis #59 2 years ago

    Yawn.

    Nice reward IW get for shafting the people that made them successful in the first place and a nice reward Activision get for shafting everyone with a higher RRP.

    They do worse and the mainstream consumers give them more.

    At least GTA IV deserved the record.

    As for those of you complaining about the games length, I don't think the length is that important when judging a game, it's the quality of the experience. Too many developers over the years have made the mistake of thinking a time consuming game is a good game.

  • Buran #60 2 years ago

    Source?

  • ps3owner #61 2 years ago

    well. I bought mine on ebay for 32 pounds. morrissons and co had none left. + it seems like the price might go back up... it's like the stock exchange with this game... at least I didn't give any of my dough to Acti (I know, still did it some way or another... ah well)

  • Deckard1 #62 2 years ago

    Haven't been on the forums for a few days.... are we at the "hating it cos its popular" stage yet?

  • Monkey_Puncher #63 2 years ago

    Fuck you Activision, though thank you Inifinity Ward for such a fantastic game!

  • Quixz #64 2 years ago

    Wow, well i did get 2 copies..

  • TonyHarrison #65 2 years ago

    Proof, if it was ever in doubt, that COD is a very casual franchise...

  • db3 #66 2 years ago

    Activision should thank the supermarkets for those numbers. I for one would not have bought it if it was more than £35.
    Edited by 1 at 12/11/09 @ 00:07

  • harzo #67 2 years ago

    If you lot are so peeved off with EG posting stories on MW 2 then stop repeating the same messages in each thread.

    Jeez, talk about being hypocritical?!

  • Shinetop #68 2 years ago

    We need more MW2 coverage.

  • Shinetop #69 2 years ago

    I like how everybody is always completely up in arms agains Activision and Bobby Kotick, but as soon as yet another generic shooter pops out, everybody jumps on it brandishing their wallets. Way to stick it to the man, guys.

  • solidSnake04 #70 2 years ago

    i wonder if MW2 got this many sales exactly because other good titles got pushed back to 2010. would activision pocket that much if AC2, BioShock 2, Splinter Cell and others were around ?

  • bad09 #71 2 years ago

    "I like how everybody is always completely up in arms agains Activision and Bobby Kotick, but as soon as yet another generic shooter pops out, everybody jumps on it brandishing their wallets. Way to stick it to the man, guys."

    Yeah it's pretty sad to watch. Steam is already up to 40 notes I see, only a matter of time for the console deals to finish then it's high price city!

    Yet gamers almost bit their hands off to get it, still I used to rush for the new shiny thing myself so can't really judge them.

    It's just a shame Acti have so much support for the pike hike though, which you have all given by the way, even with that £26 "deal".....

    Oh well only time will tell the damage Acti, and gamers themselves, have done.
    Edited by 1 at 12/11/09 @ 08:13

  • VMerken #72 2 years ago

    Before calling out the "drowned voice of the PC gamer", perhaps it may be interesting to know how much of those sales were for the X360/PS3/PC. If the PC figures are high, relatively speaking, then the PC gamers might have communicated their real stance about the dedicated servers issue (it's awrsum!). If not...

    But yeah, wow, lots of moolah made there. Unsurprisingly. And that is only the beginning I believe...
    Edited by 1 at 12/11/09 @ 08:39

  • cawley1 #73 2 years ago

    I wonder how many of the 1.23m copies went to someone under 18 then?!

  • actionfitz #74 2 years ago

    "These first day sales figures are astonishing and clear evidence that..." games are now gonna be £55 RRP as standard. :(

  • Alterego-X #75 2 years ago

    OK, MW2 being a ridiculously (over?)hyped game is confirmed.

    Considering that each of these buyers were CoD 4 fans who expected it to be similar, it doesn't tell a lot about people who buy it based on its quality.

    The ability to keep selling after a week will show if it is popular or not on its own.

  • actionfitz #76 2 years ago

    @ The Bodybuilder
    11/11/09 @ 18:40

    EG, the spokespeople of Infinity Ward.
    ---

    shall we now call them 'Actigamer'?
    or
    'EuroVision'?
    (lol sorry, couldnt resist)

  • VMerken #77 2 years ago

    @cawley1
    At least one. On our national news programme, I saw a 12-year-old kid at the midnight launch event (supervised or unsupervised, don't know) spending his allowance to buy a copy. The press interviewed the kid (because aha it's a 16+ game over here), "Why did you come here to buy MW2?", and the kid responded something along the lines of, "It's awesome, I get to shoot people and there are explosions YEAH!"

    Personally, I wouldn't take my kid to a MIDNIGHT launch event but hey, free world.

    They also talked to a guy who was waiting since 8pm for the midnight launch event. He was IN THE MIDDLE of the waiting line. Wow.
    Edited by 2 at 12/11/09 @ 09:18

  • M_of_the_sys #78 2 years ago

    I wonder if it would've sold so many if it wasn't for all the cheap deals floating around? I certainly wouldn't have picked one up at full price.

  • markymark22 #79 2 years ago

    The power of a well made multiformat game! Fair dues. I'm sure their fair happy they (thankfully!) broke away from the tired world war 2 direction.

  • Wolverfrog #80 2 years ago

    The £55 really won't happen for anything but MW2. I'd never pay that much for another game, except perhaps Halo: Reach or Mass Effect 2.

  • AHiFi #81 2 years ago

    I kinda hoped people wouldn't do this. I kinda hoped Activision would learn a lesson. I guess I was wrong. Well, I'm still boycotting. *grimaces*

  • BadDevotions #82 2 years ago

    @AHiFi i was all ready for boycotting, especially with l4d2 round the corner, but then i saw the £26 JS offer and i could not resist.

  • Bru-Man #83 2 years ago

    "These first day sales figures are astonishing and clear evidence that videogames are now mainstream in the UK," said Michael Rawlinson, boss of data collector ELSPA/GfK-ChartTrack.

    Nonsense - you can't extrapolate from the most highly anticipated software sequel release ever (one which other publishers deliberately moved their own titles away from so as not to lose sales) to the entire industry. I wish it were true, but that's pure hyperbole. Still incredible sales though!

  • Bru-Man #84 2 years ago

    Oh, and also the first videogame release since WoW: Lich King to achieve national news coverage (as far as I can recall). First for a non MMO title? Or has Halo had similar coverage in the past?

  • Rubarack #85 2 years ago

    It kind of looks like gaming as a hobby is dead on its feet. All the developers we loved back in the day are either shifting to mass market tripe (Nintendo) or being sidelined in favour of yearly franchises (Bioware) with games like this sucking up so much cash no-one will consider publishing anything else.

    I wonder how many more worthwhile major releases there will ever be? A dozen?
    Edited by 1 at 12/11/09 @ 12:31

  • VMerken #86 2 years ago

    @Bru-Man
    As far I can recall, GTA IV was also covered by national television.