TORONTO – Call of Duty: Ghosts, the latest installment in the popular video game series, has already grossed $1 billion in sales in its first day of being on sale.
In the hours since video game fanatics around the world lined-up outside stores to get their hands on the first-person shooter game, Activision – the company behind Call of Duty – announced they had sold $1 billion worth of games in “retail stores worldwide.”
But that doesn’t mean that gamers have handed over $1 billion in cash – yet.
The $1 billion stat refers to the “sell-in” – the number of copies of Call of Duty: Ghosts that have been shipped to stores worldwide.
Call of Duty: Ghosts launched at 15,000 midnight openings all over the world Tuesday night.
Its launch was expected to break records in sales.
“Call of Duty is by far the largest console franchise of this generation,” said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard in a press release.
“More people have played Call of Duty this year than ever before, logging four billion hours of game play. And in the last 12 months, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, including its digital content, generated more revenues than any other console game ever has in a single year. Although it is too early to assess sell-through for Call of Duty: Ghosts, it’s launching at a time when the franchise has never been more popular.”
Activision is in stiff competition with Take-Two Interactive for bragging rights. In September Take-Two Interactive’s launch of Grand Theft Auto V made $800 million (also in retail sell-in) in its first day.
Grand Theft Auto V crossed the $1 billion mark in three days, shipping 29 million units in its first six weeks.
But Activision has big hopes for Ghosts. The game was launched on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii U and in a PC version, but versions for the upcoming Xbox One and PlayStation 4 will also be released.
“We expect Call of Duty: Ghosts to be the most successful launch title for the Xbox One and PS4 by a wide margin. In fact, according to GameStop, Call of Duty: Ghosts is their most pre-reserved next gen title,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing.
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Fans of the Call of Duty franchise echoed Hirshberg’s excitement about the game; Call of Duty-related terms trended 20 times worldwide on Twitter leading up to its launch.
During the midnight launch party event in Toronto fans began lining up as early as 4 a.m. to get their hands on the game.
Mixed reviews
Despite the games popularity, videogame critics were not overly impressed with the new game.
Polygon’s Russ Frushtick criticized the brand for a lack of imagination noting that there seemed to be “a real shortage of new ideas,” even calling the game the weakest in the series since the 2009 release of Modern Warfare 2.
Computer and Videogame’s Nick Cowen also mentioned the lack of a new plot line in his review.
“There is an overwhelming sense of familiarity one gets from playing Call Of Duty: Ghosts and that’s probably because an iteration of this series drops every year without truly reinventing the wheel,” Cowen wrote.
But other reviews remained quite positive about changes to the game.
IGN’s Scott Lowe echoed some of the criticism about the plot of the game, but credits Activision for improvements to the user interface and experience that he said breathes new life into the game.
“Like a good sequel should, Call of Duty: Ghosts doesn’t ignore the formula of fast, fluid gameplay that has made the series famous, but introduces a unique new premise, unprecedented player personalization, and sweeping changes that breathe new life into the multiplayer experience.” wrote Lowe.
“It’s over-the-top and at times unnecessarily complex, but serves both current and next-generation consoles with ambitious new ideas and tremendous replay value.”
Chad Sapieha, reviewer for Financial Post’s Post Arcade, also gave rave reviews to the user experience.
“Having played every Call of Duty game ever made by Infinity Ward and sister studio Treyarch, this was the most spectacular, grandest in scope, and most well-balanced,” Sapieha wrote.
“It was the most fun I’ve had playing Call of Duty in a long time.”
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