Activision has confirmed that the long-awaited Call of Duty: Black Ops II generated a staggering $500 million in just 24 hours after its initial release.
“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,” trumpeted Activision CEO Bobby 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. Given the challenged macro-economic environment, we remain cautious about the balance of 2012 and 2013.”
It should be noted that CoD: Black Ops 2 sales have already outpaced those of Microsoft’s highly anticipated Halo 4, which managed to rack up a respectable $220 million on its first day.
The single-player CoD campaign features two connected storylines, with one set during the Cold War and the other in 2025.
Alex Mason returns as the protagonist to take on the Cold War, while Mason’s son David appears as the main character in 2025 as a new Cold War emerges between China and the United States.
