Title Eclipses Feature Film Record for Second Consecutive Year
London, UK - December 6, 2012 - Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc., announced today that Call of Duty:
Black Ops II has crossed the $1 billion mark in worldwide retail sales,
according to Chart-Track retail customer sell-through information and internal
company estimates. Illustrating the strong appeal of interactive entertainment
to audiences worldwide, the game achieved this milestone in just 15 days after
its launch on 13th November, 2012. Last year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
reached $1 billion in retail sales in 16 days. The box office record set for
feature films in 2009 by "Avatar" was $1 billion in 17 days?.
"The release of Call of Duty has been one of the most significant entertainment
events of each of the last six years," said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision
Blizzard.
"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."
Since the game's launch, more than 150 million hours have been logged online
playing Call of Duty: Black Ops II on Xbox LIVE and PlayStation Network.
"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," said Eric
Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. "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."
Call of Duty: Black Ops II is available in UK shops on the Xbox 360 video game
and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation?3 computer entertainment
system, Wii U? game system from Nintendo and Windows PC. The game is rated PEGI
18.
More information on Call of Duty: Black Ops II can be found at
http://www.callofduty.com/blackops2 or on
http://www.facebook.com/codblackops. Fans can also follow @Treyarch on
Twitter.
About Activision Publishing, Inc.
Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a
leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive
entertainment and leisure products.
Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Mexico, the United
Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the
Netherlands, Australia, South Korea, mainland China and the region of Taiwan.
More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company's
website, http://www.activision.com. |
