website tracking
Search The Big Picture


« Video: 'Avatar' - Making a Scene | Main | First Look at 'Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader' »
Friday
27Nov2009

'Call of Duty' Games Top $3 Billion in Sales

DateFriday, November 27, 2009 at 8:47PM
I don't care how you slice it: Call of Duty is among the biggest entertainment phenoms in history. The Hollywood Reporter has looked at the numbers, spurred of course by the latest entry in the series, Modern Warfare 2, and the results are simply staggering. Since 2003, Activision has sold 55 million units of the game, accounting for over $3 billion in sales.

There have long been arguments about measuring sales/box office/pay-per-view stats because the prices are so wildly different. A movie ticket costs about $8 on the average, while video games cost at least four times that much. So when you see that a game makes $150 million in a weekend, you temper that because they only have to sell about three or four million units to get there. Conversely, if Dark Knight tickets cost $49.99, would it make that much in three days?

Games can cost more because it's a bigger investment of your time, so instead of looking at the dollar signs, look at the product moved. Fifty-five million of anything is simply a tremendous amount, especially in a little over five years. And then if you look at the price - Modern Warfare 2 sold nearly five million copies in one day in the US and the UK, at a hefty $50 or so - I think it more than balances the scales for something like a Harry Potter movie that makes about $1 billion per around the world.

Activision is supposedly developing a film version of the game, which would be big business and the sort of game that is fairly easy to transfer to a different form. I think you can just use the brand name and develop a new story rather than trying to recreate one edition of the game as a film. Personally, I think that's the best way to insure audience carryover, because with so many purists, one sure way to piss them off is ask them to pay for the same thing twice. With a movie that exists outside the video game arena, Activision might have better luck.

Although, at this point, does Actvision need better fortunes?

AuthorColin Boyd | | in , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | Comment2 Comments |

Reader Comments (2)

Actavision owns Blizzard
Blizzard owns WoW
WoW makes stupid money.
A=B B=C then A=C

Friday, November 27, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterOrinn

Hi...

I like to play the games on my pc my console and on my cell phone..

this article was related to games & also related to technology and i had also hobby to search gadget and latest gadgets and many more so this article was really great in my opinion.

Thursday, December 10, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterdsi r4

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>