Activision revealed this morning that Call of Duty: Black Ops II brought in an estimated $500 million in revenue when it launched on November 13, 2012. This easily surpassed Modern Warfare 3‘s first day revenue total of $400 million, and comes within striking distance of Black Ops‘ five day record of $650 million.
The company did not reveal specific first day unit sales for Call of Duty: Black Ops II, but if you assume $60 per copy it would result in approximately 8 million units sold worldwide across the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. What makes this accomplishment even more impressive is that Black Ops II will not be fully launched until after it is released for the Wii U on November 18th (alongside the console’s launch).
Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard’s CEO, noted that this makes the Call of Duty brand the “biggest entertainment launch of the year for the fourth year in a row”, and that life-to-date sales of the franchise have passed box office receipts for Harry Potter and Star Wars.
Full press release below:
Call Of Duty: Black Ops II Delivers More Than $500 Million In Worldwide Retail Sales In First 24 Hours
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Nov. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), today announced that for the fourth consecutive year, the Call of Duty® franchise has delivered the biggest entertainment launch of the year. The highly-anticipated Call of Duty®: Black Ops II has achieved an estimated sell-through of more than $500 million worldwide in the first 24 hours of its release, according to Chart-Track, retail customer sell-through information and internal company estimates.
“With first day sales of over half a billion dollars worldwide, we believe Call of Duty is the biggest entertainment launch of the year for the fourth year in a row,” said Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard, Inc. “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. Given the challenged macro-economic environment, we remain cautious about the balance of 2012 and 2013.”
On November 13, 2012, millions of fans attended more than 16,000 midnight openings at retail stores worldwide. Reflecting the wave of excitement that swept the globe, Call of Duty: Black Ops II drove social conversation in its first 24 hours as it was a top trending topic globally on Twitter in 23 cities worldwide. Additionally, there have been more than 30 million YouTube video views of the game’s live-action ‘Surprise’ launch trailer since its release on October 29, 2012.
“Call of Duty has become more than a product people buy, it’s a brand people buy into. And every November we do more than just the launch of a game, we kick off an annual, unofficial but worldwide phenomenon called the Call of Duty season,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. “I want to thank our incredible team at Treyarch for making an amazing game, everyone at Activision for making this brand a force of nature and our retail partners for their unprecedented support of this franchise. But most importantly I want to thank our millions of fans for their continued support and loyalty and for making us better every day.”
Call of Duty: Black Ops II is available at retail locations worldwide on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, and Windows PC. The title is also expected to be released in North America for the new Wii U™ game system from Nintendo on November 18, 2012.
The game is rated “M” (Mature — Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs — content suitable for persons ages 18 and older) by the ESRB.
More information on Call of Duty: Black Ops II can be found at http://www.callofduty.com/blackops2 or on www.facebook.com/codblackops. Fans can also follow @Treyarch on Twitter.