Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2 has managed to shatter yet another record by becoming the biggest launch in history across all forms of entertainment with an estimated sales of $310 million in the first 24 hours in UK and USA alone.
Around 1.2 million copies of the game were sold in the United Kingdom with around three times that amount purchased across the pond according to Activision's own figures.
MW2 managed to outweigh the previous box office champion, the Dark Knight, which brought in slightly more than $158 million in July 2008.
"The Call of Duty franchise has become a cultural phenomenon showing the power of video games as an entertainment medium," said CEO Mike Griffith in a press release.
The game is out on all platforms except on the Nintendo Wii because of the complexity of the game itself. Modern Warfare 2 is the sixth title in the franchise which was launched back in 2003.
Retailers such as Amazon are selling copies of the game for as little as £30 for the PC version (opens in new tab) and £32 for the console ones (opens in new tab) and the sales figures are particularly telling given the fact that the game is rated for gamers aged 17 and more.
Our Comments
Mw2 is already breaking some significant grounds and has established game playing as one of the biggest revenue earners in the entertainment industry. Still, ironically, it is the Nintendo Wii platform that is paving the way for the next generation of gamers. And don't discard the mobile platforms as well with the iPhone spearheading yet another major breakthrough.
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