Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 put up some killer numbers when it went on sale Tuesday: Activision announced earlier today that it sold 4.7 million copies in North America and the U.K., which translated into a cool $310 million at the cash registers. In the videogame world, these are historic numbers — Grand Theft Auto IV was the previous one-day sales record holder with 3.6 million sold in May 2008.
But as far as COD: MW2 being the Biggest Entertainment Event in History, let’s not get too crazy here. Yes, $310 million is a lot more than the $67 million (throw in another few million dollars for the U.K.) that current box-office champ The Dark Knight made on its premiere day. I prefer to look at the two events in terms of eyeballs, though: According to Box Office Mojo, the average movie ticket price in 2008 was $7.18, which means 9.4 million people in the U.S. lined up to see Dark Knight on opening day. That’s nearly double the number of customers who bought COD: MW2; more when you consider Activision’s 4.7 million number includes North American and British sales. Furthermore, The Dark Knight eventually pulled in over a $1 billion overall at the box office, plus sold another several hundred million dollars worth of DVDs and Blu-rays.
So as much as I love playing COD: MW2 and think its first-day sales record is something to applaud, its retail feat is less impressive than what The Dark Knight accomplished in 2008.
yu’re comparing movies and video games…what it wrong with you!!
just a little edting
*you’re and *is
To edit your post on editing
*editing
lmao….i was thinking the same thing.
Hilarious…
That logic is also flawed since many people can play the game from one copy.
Did you also take into account that roughly 300 million people are able to go see the movie, whereas the videogame systems probably only have around 50 million sold in the us. Each consumer will also only buy one copy or rent whereas a movie people can see many times and don’t have the option to rent for several months.
Apples and Oranges….
Agreed, this is apples and oranges. If you’re comparing video games to movies, you may as well throw TV shows, broadway plays, and presidential campaign funds into the mix
this makes no sense whats so ever, next ew gonna let their writers music and books, to see which sells more. Seriously get a head check.
Well, first of all you compared a game to a movie, apples and oranges, kid. One costs maybe 10 dollars while one costs 60 at the least. And you mights as well add another 5 mill for call of duty due to pirates.
If you got the 360 version pirated, you cannot play it online because you would need a modded 360, and Microsoft is banning those from playing online. They already banned over 1 million modded Xbox 360s.
I forgot to add that the main reason to get the game is to play online. It amazes me how many hours pass when playing with my friends online, and for a PS3 user, it is free.
I should point out that Activision was the one who called MW2 the biggest entertainment release of all time. They’re the ones who opened the door for comparison to movies.
Thank you, Colin! I wondered why people were getting so mad, Activision has been courting these comparisons on estimates for weeks leading up to this release.
Fair enough, but anyone with common sense would know not to compare the sales between two different mediums, even based off an asinine remark a videogame publisher said (and a link to the quote would be nice). Like everyone else said, it’s two different mediums with two different audiences, AND a vast difference with the cost. No one else took the time to clarify this fact, because it’s a ‘duh’ moment.
Who can even compare the two? Does this even make any sense. One is a film and the other is a game. Don’t get me wrong I loved the Dark Knight, but this article makes no sense to me.
Mr. Eng Walk you should resign due to this poor excuse of an article that makes no sense. A film to a game comparison and not to mention the movie came out in 2008. We are in 2009 and what hot now is what is now FOOL!
The good video games cost at the cheaptes $60 the most expensive movie ticket is maybe $8, you simply cannot compare the two!
Dark Knight rules all!
This whole article is just another attempt to devalue anything because they somehow got offended that The Dark Knight was “beat”. Please, lets get over it already. The Dark Knight is a fine movie but it’s not God’s gift to cinema.
wow someone is a HATER!
Eyeballs don’t pay the rent.
Gary! The burning question is: Why the hell are you comparing a video game with “The Dark Knight” box office receipts??