Call of Duty: Black Ops II Revenue Hits $1 Billion In 15 Days, Beats MW3

Activision Publishing announced today that Call of Duty: Black Ops II has topped $1 billion in worldwide sales during its first 15 days at retail. For comparison, last year’s Modern Warfare 3 reached $1 billion after 16 days, and the 2009 film Avatar took 17 days to hit the same milestone.

Unit sales data for Treyarch’s latest shooter was not provided in the press release, however, the publisher noted that since launch players have logged over 150 million hours playing the title on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network.

After Activision revealed Call of Duty: Black Ops II‘s first day sales of $500 million some analysts expressed concern that the franchise might be in decline. The jury is still out on exactly how well the title is holding up in terms of unit sales, however, this update certainly relieves those fears as far as revenue is concerned.

Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard CEO, commented on Call of Duty: Black Ops II’s sales, saying:

“The release of Call of Duty has been one of the most significant entertainment events of each of the last six years. 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.”

Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, added:

“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.”

“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.”