Call of Duty: Black Ops has racked up more than $1 billion in sales, hitting the milestone faster than any other game in history.
Say what you will about Activision, Treyarch or Black Ops, but there’s no denying that a billion dollars in sales is an impressive achievement; doing it in less than two months on the market is nothing short of amazing.
“In all of entertainment, only Call of Duty and Avatar have ever achieved the billion dollar revenue milestone this quickly,” said Activision CEO Bobby Kotick. “This is a tribute to the global appeal of the Call of Duty franchise, the exceptional talent at Treyarch and the hundreds of extraordinary people across our many Call of Duty studios including Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer that work tirelessly on the franchise.”
The billion bucks isn’t a huge surprise, given that Black Ops left its predecessor, Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, in the dust less than a week after launch, putting up $650 million in five days compared to MW2‘s $550 million. But Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg said what really impresses him isn’t the money but the time people are sinking into it. Microsoft reported that the average player goes online to play more than once a day and stays connected for more than an hour each time, adding up to more than 600 million hours spent on the game since it came out on November 9.
“Even more remarkable than the number of units sold is the number of hours people are playing the game together online which are unprecedented,” he said. “Call of Duty is more than a game, it’s a true community.”
