Modern Warfare 3 smashes media sales records with $400m
updated 09:25 am EST, Fri November 11, 2011
COD MW3 sells more in one day than any format
Activision managed to stay out in front for all-time entertainment records as it confirmed Friday that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 had become the best-selling entertainment launch ever. With about 6.5 million copies trading on the November 8 intro, the game will have made about $400 million in revenue just on the first day, passing by any other form of entertainment. The launch was topping a record Activision had set itself, when Black Ops launched and made $360 million in one day.
The game also set a record for Xbox Live, getting the most simultaneous gamers playing an Xbox 360 game at the same time in about two days later.
The figure continues to be helped by the cost of the game. At $60 on average in North America, the game is about six times more expensive than a typical movie ticket and wouldn't have had trouble topping even the most popular movies. The highest-ever gross for a movie's opening was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, at just under $91.1 million. Most other media formats don't carry a game's price or trigger as much demand to see it on opening day.
MW3 was also helped by being attached to a special edition Xbox 360 as well as a promo from Best Buy that gave free HTC smartphones.
