Activision: Black Ops notches up $1 billion in revenue
Over 600 million hours of game time now logged since the shooter's launch in November
Activision Publishing has announced that its internal estimates place the latest entry in the Call of Duty franchise - Black Ops - as passing $1 billion in revenue since it launched in November.
It continues the momentum set by the game when it posted $650 million in the first five days on sale, setting new entertainment records and beating last year's Modern Warfare 2 by $100 million.
Additionally over 600 million hours of play time have been logged since November 9, and on the Xbox 360 platform Microsoft has revealed that the average player logs on more than once per day, sticking around each time for longer than an hour - with over half that time spent playing online.
"In all of entertainment, only Call of Duty and Avatar [the movie] have ever achieved the billion dollar revenue milestone this quickly," said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. "This is a tribute to the global appeal of the Call of Duty franchise, the exceptional talent at Treyarch and the hundreds of extraordinary people across our many Call of Duty studios including Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer that work tirelessly on the franchise.
"Our ability to provide the most compelling, immersive entertainment experience, and enhance it with regular, recurring content that delivers hundreds of hours of audience value, has allowed Call of Duty to continue to set sales and usage records."
He went on to note the level of engagement with the game across all platforms, and Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg went on to praise the community.
"Call of Duty continues to rewrite not just the record books, but also the rules of interactive entertainment," he said. "Even more remarkable than the number of units sold is the number of hours people are playing the game together online which are unprecedented. Call of Duty is more than a game, it's a true community."
News of the milestone pushed Activision Blizzard's share price up briefly in trading yesterday, before it settled back down at $12.23, up just 0.16 per cent on the day.