November 26, 2012 by Vinnie Leduc
Surprise…? The annual November tradition of the newest iteration of Call of Duty breaking its own launch sales record was fulfilled again a day after Black Ops II hit shelves last week; however, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick may need to ease up slightly when it comes to tooting the company’s horn. After a week of release, sales of the latest Call of Duty is actually 2.33 million behind the 13.45 million units of Modern Warfare 3 sold in the previous game’s first week last year.
But first things first. In a press release from Activision Blizzard, Kotick announced that “with first day sales of over half a billion dollars worldwide… Call of Duty is the biggest entertainment launch of the year for the fourth year in a row. 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.”
We were told at E3 that Black Ops II would make the first Black Ops “look like Ms. Pac-Man“, and it indeed beat its predecessors in nearly every way. But with first-week sales estimates coming in and showing that perhaps not every future Call of Duty will match its previous game’s feat, are we witnessing the beginning of the end of a dynasty, albeit an ever-so-slight scuff in an otherwise undeniably impressive streak? Can we give any credit to the proximity of the return of Master Chief in Halo 4 the week before? Are gamers finally getting tired of the massively popular but marginally innovative, and hence oft-criticized, FPS? Let us know what you think. In the meantime, I’m going back to killing zombies.
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