Call of Duty Black Ops set a five-day record for getting people to part with their money, according to its creators today. $650 million in copies sold around the world in the span of a work week.
Black Ops publisher Activision, you know, the one a lot of gamers love to hate because of their Death Star reputation, said today in a press release that the company topped the five-day mark of last year's Modern Warfare 2, which hit $550 million in its first five days. Both achievements have been records for any form of entertainment, according to the publisher. Just last week, Activision boasted of Black Ops selling 5.6 million copies in its first day of release in North America and the U.K.
Proponents of books, music, movies and other forms of entertainment might protest the apples to organic apples comparison, noting that Activision's games cost at leas $60, and plenty more if a person buys a special edition of Black Ops or Modern Warfare 2. Movie tickets are high, but not that high.
Still, take that, Decision Points! Maybe the former President's memoir should have been a video game.
Activision's release quotes excited executives from Sony and Microsoft, reveling in the high sales, though we are left to wonder if the head of Nintendo and the mythical ruler of the PC gaming world are also happy with Black Ops' sales on Wii and Windows. The Xbox 360 version was so popular, according to today's news, that it racked up 5.9 million hours played online on launch day, November 9, involving as many as 2.6 million players.
These are mighty impressive numbers, but, hey, 2010 isn't over yet. Activision Blizzard's World of Warcraft: Cataclysm — coming from the Blizzard Entertainment side of things — will be out on December 7, and surely that's another surefire hit that will break records too. Last, time a new WoW expansion was out, it sold 2.8 million copies in 24 hours.