The Russian government has reportedly imposed a de-facto ban on sales of CoD: Modern Warfare 2. ??According to Hellforge, “every copy” of the console version has been recalled due to a controversial scene in which the protagonist participates in a deadly Moscow airport terrorist attack.
The ban has prompted Infinity Ward to release an official patch for the PC and Steam versions of Modern Warfare 2 that “entirely removes” the mission from the game. ??The censored console version is currently pending approval from the Russian government and could be released sometime over the next month.
Predictably, the above-mentioned airport massacre has yet to negatively impact game sales in the US and UK.
Indeed, Wedbush Morgan analyst Edward Woo told TG Daily that CoD: Modern Warfare 2 sold a staggering 4.7 million copies during the first 24 hours of its debut.
“Based on initial sales figures, it is clear that CoD: Modern Warfare 2 struck the right balance,” explained Woo. “The last time we saw such an overwhelming response (in terms of raw numbers) to a video game was with Grand Theft Auto.”
However, Woo cautioned that the FPS genre could not be expected to “single-handedly” move the entire industry forward.
“You need top quality in games in other categories. For example, Uncharted 2: Amongst Thieves was the best-selling game in October according to the NPD. And the new SuperMario Brothers title for the Wii is likely to sell 25 million copies during its lifespan,” added Woo.
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