Activision: Call of Duty Franchise Surpasses $3 Billion

Activision Blizzard said Friday that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 pushed sales of its Call of Duty military shooter franchise past $3 billion and 55 million units worldwide. Activision cited internal sales estimates and third-party figures from tracking firms NPD Group, Chart-Track, and Gfk. Modern Warfare 2, released on November 10 and developed by Activision-owned Infinity Ward, generated around $550 million in its first five days worldwide. The original Call of Duty was developed by Infinity Ward and released in 2003 for the PC. Since then, Activision purchased the studio, brought it to multiple platforms, and annualized the series, which currently alternates between Infinity Ward and fellow internal Activision studio Treyarch for lead SKUs. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said in a statement, "Call Of Duty has become one of the greatest entertainment franchises of all time. If you consider the number of hours our audiences are engaged in playing Call of Duty games, it is likely to be one of the most viewed of all entertainment experiences in modern history."