The Call of Duty name still does the trick. Today, Activision revealed a three-day total sales of over $600 million for Modern Warfare’s launch. That’s a sell-through figure too, so that’s more than $600 million spent by consumers.
Activision Blizzard’s CEO Bobby Kotick was understandably pumped by the numbers.
“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. In its first three days of release, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare more than doubled the box office opening of Joker.”
The wording in the rest of the statement gives us an idea of how Modern Warfare stacks up in the franchise.
“The title has sold more units in its first three days than any other Call of Duty game sold in its first three days in this console generation.”
That means Modern Warfare had the most successful launch since Black Ops II. In 2012, Black Ops II sold $500 million in its first day and hit the $1 billion mark two weeks after launch.
Last month, NPD showed us the top 10 best-selling games of 2019. We can put Modern Warfare at the top and knock everyone else down a spot now:
- NBA 2K20
- Mortal Kombat 11
- Borderlands 3
- Madden NFL 20
- Kingdom Hearts III
- Tom Clancy’s The Division 2
- Anthem
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Resident Evil 2 2019
- Grand Theft Auto V
It still blows my mind to see how well GTA V sells.
Modern Warfare also had the biggest launch on PC ever, which isn’t too big of a surprise given the support on the PC side, cross-play, and Twitch.
Modern Warfare’s launch was also strong enough to bump Fortnite off the top spot on the most played charts on Xbox One.
Fortnite gave up this spot when Gears 5 launched too but quickly grabbed it back. It’s almost inevitable that Fortnite will reclaim the top spot once again.
While Modern Warfare isn’t perfect, the story was a welcome return to form for the franchise. And despite a frustrating multiplayer, I can’t stop playing it.