Modern Warfare 2 Breaks CoD Sales Records Ahead Of Season 2 Launch
Long-standing Call of Duty sales records have been Gulagged by the arrival of Modern Warfare 2, which has cast its golden touch across the franchise.
The launch of Modern Warfare 2 has been long forgotten amid a small crisis around the post-launch content and the delay of Season 2, but there's no denying that the game has seen success.
In fact, Modern Warfare 2 has now been confirmed as the best-selling Call of Duty game of all time (for the first three months of launch), shattering the records and amassing up nearly $2 billion worth of revenue.
Activision Report $1.85 Billion Profits For Call of Duty In 2023 Q4
Click to enlargeAccording to Activision's quarterly financial report, "Modern Warfare II delivered the highest opening-quarter sell-through in franchise history," beating the likes of Modern Warfare 2019 and Black Ops 2.
The report, which also revealed that a new "premium" Call of Duty game will release in 2023, details that Activision made $1.85 billion from the Call of Duty franchise alone in the final quarter of 2022.
Between Modern Warfare 2 game sales and microtransactions on Warzone, the $1.85 billion is the highest figure that Activision has ever brought in on a single game in a financial quarter.
Activision Details Highest-Ever Player Counts For Call of Duty
Not only did the sales for Modern Warfare 2 become a franchise record-breaker, but the player count also nuked the previous records.
"At the end of the fourth quarter, cumulative hours played were the highest in franchise history for a premium title at this stage of its release," said Activision.
Despite some glaringly obvious problems in its current state, Modern Warfare 2 has solidified itself as the best-launching Call of Duty ever, and will likely set a trend going forward.
Whether fans will like this method in the future is yet to be decided. Modern Warfare 2's IP has drawn in quite a lot of nostalgic fan sales to build upon Call of Duty regulars, meaning it will be interesting to see how they continue to tackle game launches in the future.
