The lights are on
For years, Activision has lived on top of the mountain, with Call of Duty sales setting retail records year-over-year. This year, the franchise’s supremacy is challenged by Grand Theft Auto V. It will be interesting to see which ends up on top, but Activision is off to a strong start.
In an announcement this morning, Activision has announced $1 billion in Call of Duty: Ghosts sell-in. These are shipments sent to retail, and may not reflect units sold to consumers.
Additionally, Activision reports that average player sessions are higher than Black Ops II or Modern Warfare 3 were in their first 24 hours. Additionally, Gamestop (disclosure: Game Informer’s parent) reports that Call of Duty: Ghosts is the most pre-ordered next-generation title.
Our TakeIt is too early to compare Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto sales. We know that GTAV sold-through (to customers) at the $1 billion level by day three, however that confirmation didn’t come until Take-Two’s quarterly financial report.
What Activision is reporting is “sell-in.” Those are revenues generated by payments made by retailers (not by customers). Depending on sales at the counter, that number might be revised down, as sell-in agreements typically include provisions for retailers to return a portion of unsold stock at a pre-arranged cutoff point.
It also certainly helps that Call of Duty: Ghosts is launching on six platforms (Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and PC) to GTA’s two. Also, if Activision shipped its next-gen copies to retail already, those numbers are included even though the consoles themselves aren’t yet on sale.
The numbers are certainly impressive, but until some more time passes, we won’t know whether Call of Duty retains its crown this year. Regardless, more huge releases are good news for the industry.
For Activision to come out and say this before actual sales numbers start to roll in seems petty imo. Nobody doubts that the game will sell big time, I for one am buying it. So relax Activision show a little dignity.
Activision is seriously only doing this to be misleading. They want people to just read "Call of Duty: Ghosts... $1 Billion... 24 hours..." and think "Hey, I heard it took GTA V three days. Call of Duty must be better."
Wow. That is a lot of sales but did any one expect anything different.
There is check out aisle kiosk's at Target loaded with the game. It's like trying to sell Oreo's to fat kids.
The extra tidbit is great here, makes it easy to understand it did not sell a billion yet and they are just being arrogant.
It really doesn't matter.
You could replicate the scene from Idiocracy where Call of Duty could be something like the movie ASS where people are just staring at an ASS for 2 hours. As long as it said Call of Duty, people would buy it.
The arms industry makes more money than the candy industry. Sad but true.
I preordered it on ps4 so they won't get my money until that launch.
With the next gen split they don't have a chance of matching GTA5 first day sales. But I wonder how they'll compare after the first month or so.
Call of Duty is a yearly release so it will never have the hype that Grand Theft Auto has. Last year, Black Ops II accumulated $1 Billion in sales in 15 days, GTA V did so in 3 days. Unless Activision can beat their record by 12 days, this isn't happening. I don't think they will come close to beating GTA V's 7 world records. Also, Battlefield 4 already took some of their money. Not happening.
I'd be surprised if it didn't to be honest. gta v was only in two platforms, vs six for cod. I'd be mind blowing if it didn't beat it.
it is cod, it is bound to sell even if the sales might be lower, they will still crush bf sales cus if bf sales were good, ea will be screaming from the top of their lungs how their game is selling and beating the competition.
A game that completely doesn't deserve that many copies sold, what a shock.
Those shipments should also include the next gen versions. So many of the sales may or may not even reflect the actual number of copies bought.
Well, i know that my cousin's husband contributed to that, LOL:)