Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Outguns Black Ops 4 With Sales Topping $600M In 3 Days
The highly anticipated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare reboot is off to a fast start. According to an announcement sent out by Activision, Modern Warfare has sold more units in its first three days than any other Call of Duty game sold in the same time frame within "this console generation." It is also the top-selling premium game release of 2019, with over $600 million in sales in just three days.
"Call of Duty is once again the top selling new premium game of the year, proving the enduring nature of the franchise across console, PC, mobile, and esports," said Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard’s Chief Executive Officer. "In its first three days of release, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare more than doubled the box office opening of Joker."
In case you are wondering, Joker opened to $96 million domestically, the most over for the month of October, and $140.5 million internationally for a combined tally of $236.5 million.
Modern Warfare's first three days of sales underscores how large gaming has become in the entertainment industry. The reboot also set several other records, such as the highest digital preorders on the PlayStation Network and, unsurprisingly, the most three-day digital sales ever on the PlayStation 4 console. Modern Warfare also ranks as the top selling CoD PC launch ever.
Some of that is marketing fluff, as it relates to digital sales (physical copies don't have the same cachet these days). But at the same time, setting those kinds of records still requires strong sales overall, so kudos to Activision and Infinity Ward in that respect.
"Through the first three days, Modern Warfare has more total players and total hours played than any Call of Duty opening release in the last six years. More importantly, our players are having a great time playing," said Rob Kostich, president, Activision. "Congratulations to Infinity Ward and all our teams involved on an incredible game and its spectacular launch. We also want to thank the community for your incredible support. The launch of Modern Warfare is only the start. There’s much more to come."
As for previous CoD games, both Black Ops 4 and WWII raked in $500 million during their respective launch weekends. Modern Warfare, by comparison, pulled in $100 million more than either of those games.
This is an impressive tally, no doubt. At the same time, it's not the best ever showing for a video game, though it comes close. Red Dead Redemption 2, for example, debuted to $725 million in sales during the first three days, and Grand Theft Auto V ballooned to $1 billion. Nevertheless, $600 million is a lot of money and ensures the CoD franchise is not going anywhere.
