“Dinero, Cash, Money, Dough, Clams, Smackers, Bucks, Dead Presidents”, no matter what you call it; Activision has lots. Today the company announced that Call of Duty Black OPS II has grossed over $1 Billion in worldwide sales in just 15 days. In comparison, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 sold $1 Billion in 16 days and broke the record for fastest accumulation of “moola”. The previous record holder was James Cameron’s “Avatar”, which earned $1 Billion in 17 Days.
“The release of Call of Duty has been one of the most significant entertainment events of each of the last six years,” said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard.
“Since Call of Duty was launched, cumulative franchise revenues from players around the world are greater than current worldwide box office receipts to date for the top-10 grossing films of 2012 combined. Life-to-date sales for the Call of Duty franchise have exceeded worldwide theatrical box office receipts for ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Star Wars,’ the two most successful movie franchises of all time.”
The undead shamble towards your wallet
Since the game’s launch, more than 150 million hours have been logged online playing Call of Duty: Black Ops II on Xbox LIVE and PlayStation Network.
“Entertainment franchises that captivate audiences for as long as Call of Duty has, on the scale that Call of Duty has, are very rare things. And it takes a lot of brilliant people working across many different disciplines to make it happen. It is incredibly humbling and gratifying to be a part of,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing.
“In order for Call of Duty to remain the entertainment juggernaut that it is, and keep our fans coming back for more, we need to continue to bring fresh ideas and new innovations to the table every time, while always staying true to what people fell in love with in the first place. That’s what we did with Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and that’s what we intend to keep on doing. This is an incredible milestone for an incredible franchise, and I want to thank every passionate, talented, committed person on our team who made it happen.”
Numbers like this don’t lie. I think it’s safe to assume we will be seeing an annual Call of Duty release for some time. For more information on Call of Duty: Black OPS II, head over to the games website. Now if only I could find a way to earn that kind of “Cheese, Green, Bank, Change, Cheddar, …”
