The Call of Duty series has been going strong for almost 20 years now, even if its detractors recently began to talk about how Activision’s first-person shooter franchise is past its prime.
However the newly released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has definitely proven the naysayers wrong, as Activision’s latest game has set a new sales record for the franchise.
Actually, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 pulled in an astounding $800 million US dollars over three days, making it the fastest selling game in the franchise to date as was recently covered on Forbes.
“Thank you to our talented team that has created magic through extraordinary artistry and technology, and to the global community of players who find joy and connection through Call of Duty. This milestone belongs to them”, Activision’s CEO Bobby Kotick said in a press release.
Activision (which is in the midst of being acquired by Microsoft in a huge $70 billion US dollar deal) rebooted the Modern Warfare sub-series in 2019 with a reimagining of the 2007 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare game. Prior to that, there were three Modern Warfare titles, meaning there was another Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game.
The 2009 Modern Warfare 2 game generated $500 million US dollars in 5 days, so it was also a blockbuster, while 2011’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 had held the franchise record to date – it pulled a whopping $775 million in 5 days, but it has now been beaten by 2022’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game, a game which is likely to go on and surpass the $1 billion US dollars mark before this week is over…
Its opening weekend is now one for the record books, though, and Activision has actually compared the game’s performance to that of major blockbuster movies like Top Gun: Maverick and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, pointing out how Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s weekend haul is bigger than that of both movies combined.
So much for the franchise’s best days being behind it hen – it’s clear Call of Duty is now more relevant than ever, with a record number of players online in its release weekend as pointed out by CharlieIntel.
All this makes the ongoing row between Microsoft and Sony all the more interesting too. Microsoft wants to push ahead and complete its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, while Sony is simply trying to get the deal squashed altogether…
Nonetheless, its seem likely that Microsoft will actually get what it wants and end up putting Call of Duty on Game Pass, which will ironically lead to much lower sales of the game as fans will get the game via a Game Pass subscription instead as one Forbes contributor has pointed out.
For the time being, though, Call of Duty is likely to continue being a megahit in its current format, even if apparently Activision will break with tradition and not release a Call of Duty game next year, although it seems an expansion for Modern Warfare 2 is being planned instead.
The free to play Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 (the battle royale spin-off of the series) is coming on November 16, though, plus additional content for Modern Warfare 2 means that Call of Duty will continue being a golden goose for Activision in the near future no doubt.