Modern Warfare 3 Sells 6.5M On Launch Day In North America, UK

Activision has revealed today that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, released earlier this week, sold more than 6.5 million units in North America and the UK in its first 24 hours on sale, according to Chart-track and retail customer sell-through information. In comparison, the game saw an estimated sell-through of $400 million in these regions. Figures for other regions have not yet been released. This means that Modern Warfare 3 is the biggest day-one release for the Call of Duty series, following Black Ops which sold-through $360 million, and Modern Warfare 2 which saw sell-through of $310 million. Bobby Kotick, CEO at Activision Blizzard, said, "We believe the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the biggest entertainment launch of all time in any medium, and we achieved this record with sales from only two territories." "Other than Call of Duty, there has never been another entertainment franchise that has set opening day records three years in a row." In the last few weeks, numerous analysts have estimated how many millions the game will have sold by the end of the year. Michael Pachter suggested it will see 16 million units sold by the end of 2011, while Colin Sebastian estimated a staggering 19 million by the end of the current fiscal year.