Modern Warfare 3 Sets New Sales Record: $775 Million In Five Days
If anyone has been thinking that we’ve deliberately avoided the Modern Warfare launch in favor of Battlefield 3 stuff, well, I wouldn’t blame them, but it really wasn’t on purpose. Let us demonstrate our impartiality by passing on this rather astonishing statistic: Modern Warfare 3 made more than a quarter of a billion dollars in its first five days. That’s definitely a record.
Comparisons to big movie launches are warranted, of course, and MW3 has the biggest beat by a factor of three or four. Note that MW3′s sales number include pre-orders, however, while most box office receipts are sold on the spot.
The game is sure to hit the billion-dollar mark soon, and will likely have done so faster than any game before it. If there’s anyone left who doubts the power of the mainstream games market, numbers like these should humble them.
At the same time, it must be acknowledged that the mega-franchises are really very few when compared with the number of titles released at large, but the same could be said for standout TV shows and movies. And after all, there’s plenty of pie to go around. It’s not like the people who buy MW3 can’t also buy Minecraft or Sword & Sworcery.
http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/17/modern-warfare-3-sets-new-sales-record-775-million-in-five-days/