Activision said on Friday that Call of Duty: Black Ops II achieved an estimated sell-through of more than $500 million worldwide in the first 24 hours of its release. Even more, this release marked the fourth consecutive year that its Call of Duty franchise has delivered the biggest entertainment launch of the year.
"With first day sales of over half a billion dollars worldwide, we believe Call of Duty is the biggest entertainment launch of the year for the fourth year in a row," said Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard, Inc.
According to Kotick, 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. Still, the publisher remains cautious about what lies ahead in 2013 and beyond.
"Given the challenged macro-economic environment, we remain cautious about the balance of 2012 and 2013," he said.
Million of fans attended more than 16,000 midnight openings at retail stores worldwide on November 13, the company said. The game even supposedly drove social conversation in its first 24 hours, as it was a top trending topic globally on Twitter in 23 cities worldwide.
"Call of Duty has become more than a product people buy, it's become a brand people buy into. And every November we do more than just launch a game, we kick off an annual, unofficial but worldwide phenomenon called Call of Duty season," said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II is available worldwide on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC. The game will also be made available on the Nintendo Wii U console on November 18, 2012. For more information about Black Ops II, head here.