No, it wasn’t another Star Wars release that brought elite geeks out to stand in line for the newest installment in their favorite franchise. Instead, on November 13, 2012, millions of fans attended more than 16,000 midnight openings at retail stores worldwide to purchase Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 according to a statement by Activision, the company that publishes the popular series.
During the midnight launch GameStop alone sold more than 1 million units worldwide. Tony Bartel, president of the Grapevine, Texas-based chain told Bloomberg Businessweek, “‘Black Ops II’ is shaping up to be our biggest game launch of all time.” Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard recognized that the release was a big deal for his company as well, "With first day sales of over half a billion dollars worldwide, we believe Call of Duty is the biggest entertainment launch of the year for the fourth year in a row."
That means consumers spent more than $500 million in retail sales around the world within the first 24 hours of the game’s release. Of the initial revenue, Xbox 360 gamers account for 60 percent of all sales. PS3 gamers shelled out 38 percent of sales; however only 2 percent of PC users got the game as soon as possible and Wii-U users had to wait until November 18 to get the game.
According to Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, "Call of Duty has become more than a product people buy, it's a brand people buy into. And every November we do more than just the launch of a game, we kick off an annual, unofficial but worldwide phenomenon called the Call of Duty season." It has already topped the UK All Format Gaming Chart.
Enhanced graphics, more gadgets, bigger boards, league play for elite players, and zombie easter eggs just to name a few updates to this year’s release. PC Mag explains that the game “takes place in the year 2025 where a terrorist organization takes control of U.S. high-tech, unmanned war machines. Besides the futuristic weaponry and military craft that look like they were pulled from the set of a Terminator flick, there are also shootouts that occur on horseback, as well as a simmering Cold War between the United States and China over rare Earth materials.”
Black Ops 2 isn’t just setting its own records, it is helping others achieve their record-breaking goals as well. Australian, Okan Kaya trained for two years and finally set a new Guinness World Record for longest video game marathon, after playing more than 122 hours following the game’s release. Avid gamer Ron Hawkins explained why it’s easy to play for so long, “It’s like watching an 8 hour movie.” Only in this story the players pick the path for the protagonist.
The Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 release is just the latest example of how movies are making way for games when it comes to grossing the big bucks out of consumer’s entertainment budgets. Kotick explains, "Life-to-date sales for the Call of Duty franchise have exceeded worldwide theatrical box office receipts for "Harry Potter" and "Star Wars," the two most successful movie franchises of all time.”
Image courtesy of Ron Hawkins.
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