SANTA MONICA, Calif.,
Nov. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --
Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of
Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), announced today
that Call of Duty®: Modern
Warfare® 3 has shattered
theatrical box office, book and video game sales records for
five-day worldwide sell-through in dollars. The game
established an all-new five-day worldwide sell-through record of
more than $775 million, exceeding the
record of $650 million set a year ago
by Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops
and $550 million two years ago for
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare®
2, according to Charttrack and retail customer
sell-through information..
"With $775 million of sales of
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in its first five
days, Call of Duty has become the first entertainment
property in history to set five-day launch records for three
consecutive years across all forms of entertainment," said
Robert Kotick, CEO, Activision
Blizzard. "Life-to-date retail sales for the Call of
Duty franchise have exceeded $6
billion worldwide, which makes Call of Duty one of
the most valuable entertainment properties in the world. We
expect continued sales momentum, as reviews and audience enthusiasm
suggest that this is the best Call of Duty game that we have
ever made. Online play for Modern Warfare 3 is
at record levels and we continue to see high online play for both
Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty:
Modern Warfare 2, which ranked as the #2 and #4 top-played
Xbox LIVE games for the week of November
7, according to Major
Nelson."
"As I have said all year, we have been singluarly focused on
making a spectacular game for our fans, and nothing else. Our
incredible teams at Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games have done
just that," said Eric Hirshberg,
CEO, Activision Publishing. "Call of Duty:
Modern Warfare 3 continues to thrill core gaming
enthusiasts as well as draw new people into the medium, which is
not an easy balancing act. But it takes more than a great game. I
would also like to thank our incredible team for the pulling off
the launch of the year, as well as our retail partners around the
world. But most of all, I want to thank our fans. They are our
toughest critics, and our biggest supporters, and none of this
would be possible without them."
In addition to beating all previous first-and five-day
theatrical box office, book and video game sell-through records,
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 set two new records on
Xbox® LIVE™.
According to Microsoft:
- More than 7.0 million multiplayer hours were logged playing
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 by the end of launch
day, November 8, a 19% increase over
last year's 5.9 million multiplayer hours logged playing Call
of Duty: Black Ops last year's launch day.
- More than 3.3 million unique gamers played Call of Duty:
Modern Warfare 3 in one day on November 8 up from 2.6 million unique gamers for
Call of Duty: Black Ops.
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 set a new record
for concurrent players on Xbox LIVE with 3.3 million simultaneous
users on November 8.
"The Call of Duty franchise returned to Xbox 360 this
year with another record-breaking launch. More than 7 million
multiplayer hours were played on Modern Warfare
3 on day-one of launch on Xbox 360," said Don Mattrick, president of the interactive
entertainment business at Microsoft. "And with the exclusive
first access to new multiplayer content, we're proud Xbox 360 is
home to the largest and most engaged Call of Duty
community."
The game also set a new franchise mark for the number of
simultaneous online gamers playing Call of Duty on
PlayStation® Network on its first day, and was the
best-selling video game launch of all time in North America on Amazon.com and at Best Buy,
GameStop, Target and Walmart.
"In just over a week, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
3 has been hugely successful on PlayStation 3, and
continues to drive millions of gamers globally to PlayStation
Network with its unprecedented and engaging online multiplayer
experience," said Jack Tretton,
President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America
(SCEA). "The Call of Duty franchise is one of the
biggest entertainment brands on the planet, delivering gameplay
experiences like no other which is why we're also excited to bring
the Call of Duty franchise to our highly-anticipated next
generation portable, PlayStation Vita, where we expect fans will
continue their dedication to the most amazing Call of Duty
experiences whether in the home or on the go."
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is rated "M"
(Mature) by the ESRB for Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense
Violence and Strong Language and is available now for the Xbox 360®
video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3
computer entertainment system, and Windows® PC. For more
information visit www.callofduty.com/mw3 and
www.callofduty.com/elite.
About Activision Publishing, Inc.
Headquartered in Santa Monica,
California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading
worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive
entertainment and leisure products.
Activision Publishing is a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard
which maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United
Kingdom, France,
Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the
Netherlands, Australia,
South Korea, China and the region of Taiwan. More information about Activision and
its products can be found on the company's website,
www.activision.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements:
Information in this press release that involves Activision
Blizzard's expectations for sales of Modern Warfare 3 are
forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number
of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause
Activision Blizzard's actual future results to differ materially
from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in
this release include, but are not limited to, sales levels of
Activision Blizzard's titles, increasing concentration of titles,
shifts in consumer spending trends, the impact of the current
macroeconomic environment and market conditions within the video
game industry, Activision Blizzard's ability to predict consumer
preferences, including interest in specific genres such as
first-person action and massively multiplayer online games and
preferences among competing hardware platforms, the seasonal and
cyclical nature of the interactive game market, changing business
models including digital and used games, competition, including
from used games and other forms of entertainment, possible declines
in software pricing, product returns and price protection, product
delays, adoption rate and availability of new hardware (including
peripherals) and related software, rapid changes in technology and
industry standards, litigation risks and associated costs,
protection of proprietary rights, maintenance of relationships with
key personnel, customers, licensees, licensors, vendors, and
third-party developers, including the ability to attract, retain
and develop key personnel and developers that can create high
quality "hit" titles, counterparty risks relating to customers,
licensees, licensors and manufacturers, domestic and international
economic, financial and political conditions and policies, foreign
exchange rates and tax rates, and the identification of suitable
future acquisition opportunities and potential challenges
associated with geographic expansion, and the other factors
identified in the risk factors section of Activision
Blizzard's most recent annual report on Form 10-K. The
forward-looking statements in this release are based upon
information available to Activision Blizzard as of the date of this
release, and Activision Blizzard assumes no obligation to update
any such forward-looking statements. Although these
forward-looking statements are believed to be true when made, they
may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not
guarantees of the future performance of Activision Blizzard and are
subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which
are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ
materially from current expectations.
ACTIVISION, CALL OF DUTY and MODERN WARFARE are registered
trademarks and CALL OF DUTY MW3 is a trademark of Activision
Publishing, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the
properties of their respective owners.
Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and Windows are either registered
trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. "PlayStation" is
a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Wii and
Nintendo DS are trademarks of Nintendo.
SOURCE Activision Publishing, Inc.