Black Ops II beats Modern Warfare 3 to $1bn sales milestone

The jury may still be out on Black Ops II’s overall market performance, but the shooter has claimed yet another very impressive record today.

Activision has announced that the game has hit the $1bn sales milestone in 15 days – that’s a day quicker than its predecessor Modern Warfare 3 managed.

The box office $1bn record is held by Avatar, which took 17 days to reach the figure.

Black Ops II also pipped MW3’s opening day sales, amassing $500m compared to last year’s $400m.

Crucially, we’re yet to receive any unit sales figures, which in itself obviously points to a year-on-year drop in the franchise’s performance. Indeed, Black Ops 2 failed to beat Modern Warfare 3’s week one UK sales number.

"The release of Call of Duty has been one of the most significant entertainment events of each of the last six years," Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick stated.

"Since Call of Duty was launched, cumulative franchise revenues from players around the world are greater than current worldwide box office receipts to date for the top-10 grossing films of 2012 combined. 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."

Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg added: "Entertainment franchises that captivate audiences for as long as Call of Duty has, on the scale that Call of Duty has, are very rare things. And it takes a lot of brilliant people working across many different disciplines to make it happen. It is incredibly humbling and gratifying to be a part of.

"In order for Call of Duty to remain the entertainment juggernaut that it is, and keep our fans coming back for more, we need to continue to bring fresh ideas and new innovations to the table every time, while always staying true to what people fell in love with in the first place. That’s what we did with Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and that’s what we intend to keep on doing.

This is an incredible milestone for an incredible franchise, and I want to thank every passionate, talented, committed person on our team who made it happen."