Black Ops earns $650m in 5 days - $100m over MW2
Boasts 2.6m Live players, is biggest Amazon and GameStop launch ever
Black Ops, Activision's latest Call of Duty, has set a new entertainment industry record, grossing over $650 million in its first five days of availability.
The record was previously held by the $550 million of game's predecessor, Modern Warfare 2, claim Activision.
At a rough estimate, $650 million grossed suggests somewhere in the region of 10 million unit sales (based on an RRP of $60, but there will be significant variations in per-territory and per-retailer pricing), though Activision has yet to share exact numbers.
Figures from Microsoft reveal that over 2.6 million unique players fired up the game on Xbox 360 on its launch day last week.
In the same day, more than 5.9 million hours were logged in the game's multiplayer mode.
"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 Bobby 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."
Added Paul Raines, CEO of GameStop, "Call of Duty: Black Ops had the highest number of pre-orders of any video game to date."
"It went on to become our biggest video game launch ever, which bodes well for game sales as we enter the holidays."
Amazon also hailed Black Ops as its best-selling game launch to date.