CoD Black Ops smashes five-day sales records

Call of Duty: Black Ops has smashed box office, book and video game sales records for five-day worldwide sell through, generating more than $650 million and exceeding the $550 million set by last year’s Modern Warfare 2.

“Call of Duty has become the first entertainment property in history to set five-day launch records for two consecutive years across all forms of entertainment,” said Robert Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard. “The title’s success illustrates the mass appeal of interactive entertainment as millions of consumers are choosing to play Call of Duty: Black Ops at unprecedented levels rather than engage in other forms of media. The number of people playing online and the number of hours they are playing demonstrates how online gaming has become a mainstream form of entertainment and certainly validates Activision Blizzard’s leadership role in online entertainment.”

Black Ops also set new records on Xbox LIVE:

– More than 5.9 million multiplayer hours were logged playing Call of Duty: Black Ops by end of launch day, November 9.

– More than 2.6 million unique gamers played Call of Duty: Black Ops in one day on November 9.

Black Ops didn’t sneak past the total of Modern Warfare 2, it obliterated it, managing to generate a huge $100 million more than Infinity Ward’s blockbuster.

Last week Activision announced that Black Ops sold 5.6 million copies in its first 24 hours, generating sell-through of $360 million. A quick calculation therefore puts five day unit sales at an around 10 million.