Black Ops Breaks Records

Peter Chapman 39 Comments

I know, you’re not shocked by that headline at all are you? We could have predicted sales success for Black Ops the day after Modern Warfare 2 landed on store shelves but this is a little more than that. About a hundred million dollars more, to be precise.

Call of Duty: Black Ops has smashed Modern Warfare 2’s sales record by a hundred million dollars. $650 million in five days worldwide sales is much bigger than any previous cinema, literary or video game income, making it the world’s highest grossing entertainment launch.

Everyone’s favourite bogeyman, Bobby Kotick celebrated the distinction by noting that “Call of Duty has become the first entertainment property in history to set five-day launch records for two consecutive years across all forms of entertainment”.

Stunning figures, especially when you consider that those two consecutive record breakings have come at a time when we’re told the global economy is on its knees. Congratulations to all involved at Treyarch and Activision.

The latest console patch for Black Ops was released this morning, offering improved matchmaking and party system.

Tags: ,

Related stories from TSA

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 multiplayer beta impressions
A new Spyro game reportedly in development at Toys for Bob
Microsoft now owns Activision Blizzard King
Warzone 2.0’s Season 5 update is here – what’s new?

39 Comments

  1. No! The forum’s ever-decreasing text size has finally impregnated the front page articles!

    • oops, I’m forgot to fix that… Think someone else has done it for me now. That’ll be me in trouble =(

  2. There will be a few happy folk at Activision, especially the accountants.

    • Don’t reckon the accountants will be the happiest people there. They’ve just got loads more work to do and don’t make any extra cash for it. Anyone on prp or anyone who gets a bonus will be loving it. Shareholders yes. Accountants, no.

  3. Even with these record breaking numbers gaming will still not be taken as a serious form of entertainment!

    • I know. I pull these figures out when I tell people that gaming is bigger than any other form of media. People just refuse to believe it!

  4. Good, for a change this is one behomoth that deserves it, one of the best value packages around despite all the haters best attempts to look down their noses at it. GotY? Probably not, but its damn bloody good

    • Popularity, while not synonymous with quality, is certainly an indicator. Blops is not my favorite game ever, but it is very good and easily worth the money and people refusing to play it on grounds of that popularity are just mugging themselves.

    • Is it good then? I’m not being funny, but I’ve been put off buying it by all the negative press. Bad graphics, sound, lag etc.
      Have I been deceived?

      BUT I suppose the most important question I have is: Say I’ve bought every single COD from COD4 onwards, and I’m beginning to get COD’ed out. Is Black Ops different enough that it will replenish my lust for the series. Or is it just more of the same … but with worse graphics?
      Does it feel fresh, because as much fun as COD is, I’ve played it 3 times in a row now, and there are many other great games out there that I haven’t devoted much time to.

      • I got bored with MW2 after a couple of months and sold it. I never played WaW.
        To me BlOps is very good, not quite as good as COD4 but still excellent however that might be down to the fact that I am not, as you say, CODed out.

      • BlackOps is an excellent game because Treyarch have looked at what was missing from previous COD games and have tried to tick as many boxes as possible.

        BOT support = check
        Actual storyline = check
        More approachable online = thanks to the implementation of currency rather than relying on online rank (and therefore hundreds of hours) to create your loadout, check
        Zombies (ok, it existed in WaW but its been enhanced) = check
        Vehicle support = check

        You get the idea…
        It has its faults but it is still the most fun I have had with a COD game for quite some time :)

      • Thank guys

        Maybe I’ll make that purchase!

      • Hmmm
        Epic campaign
        Good zombies
        Online has several problems but still solid, more, bigger maps but (imo) not as good as those of mw2.

  5. I’m more concerned about the patch. Hopefully it now won’t kick the whole party out when trying to enter a game!

    • I soooo hope your right!!

    • Nope the patch makes no difference I am trying to get a game now and it is a crap as ever. I am so angry with them for this, $625 Million and they still can’t get the online to stay up. If it worked on previous games why not now. Total rubbish and it ruins a good nights gaming everytime!

      • Awww such a shame. Its the main thing wrong with the game(it has many other faults too though). I can’t play with friends that I really enjoyed MW2 with.

      • Don’t own this but i had alot of trouble in WaW when i had to join a game and hope that there was a free space or 2 for my mates so i could invite them. Maybe it’s just me who had that problem

  6. i am finding the popularity of COD to be unbelievable,i have played all the resent COD titles except for BLOPS,i find the games to be good(7.5/10)but not excellent,no COD game has for me ever been a first day purchase.i am not saying that COD games are bad in any sense of the word but i have played my fair share of FPS games and it just seems to be getting stale for me.i will get BLOPS eventually,when the price goes down,but for know im saving my money for GT5 and assassins creed.

    • Cod prices don’t go down (i’m not referring to the price of fish). Modern warfare 1 is still 40 quid in most shops.

      • But Modern Warfare 1 is still considered the best in the series.

        (Or the best to people that started gaming this generation. I suppose COD2 is still considered the best by the COD veterans)

      • true but its still less than the first day purchase price,depending on who i buy it from i can at least save some money as i am really strapped for cash right now,i dont even know which of the two i will get first,GT5 or assassins creed because i might have to wait 2 months in between.however i see your point but some money saved to get more games that appeal to you more than others sounds better than buying a game that you can be patient for on and dont NEED to buy on launch day.

      • Launch day pricing £27, price after the first week up to 2 years is around £40-£45

      • @Boiler
        Is COD 2 really that good? For me Modern Warfare is the best game that i have owned on the PS3 and i deeply regret tradring it. It may also be that Modern Warfare was the first COD game i have ever played.

        @tonycawley you need to shop around abit. I got Modern Warfare a year after release for £25 brand new.

      • Yep, CoD2 really is that good. No Fps can beat it, except maybe MoH:AA.

  7. great, now Activision can dig in and buy the dedicated servers we have all wanted for 5 years.

  8. I really really can’t understand why its so popular?!!!
    When I traded mine in the day after I got it (after being fooled by my brother telling me it was completely different to the rest and more like bad company), the bloke in the shop was gobsmacked and closely inspecting the disc obviously thinking I’d scratched or broke it. When he asked why, I gave him a 3 word review ‘Call of Crap – T*at Ops’.
    For some reason its popularity seems to soar as people seem to automatically buy it even if they don’t like or want it. I saw about 10 people on my friends list were playing it the first day or so and then went straight back on bad company a couple of days later all saying the same as me – ‘Why the hell did I buy it when I know I don’t like CoD games!’ – In the words of Flavor Flav ‘Dont believe the hype!’

  9. I dont think this release is as solid as the MW2, even if it has outsold it.
    Don’t know about everyone else but there are long periods when i just cannot connect to a game server, and get repeatedly kicked out of friends games.
    Also patch 1.02 came out on day 1, but nothing since. Are there really no more issues with the game?

    • A new patch was released today and will download next time your online but djdustb has confirmed it has done little to improve the things you mention above.

    • Never had a problem with blops, sunk loads of time in, in all game modes. A patch released last night fixes a party issue & some balancing tweaks.

      Treyarch have said its the first of many, many patches

  10. I always wondered if CoD games would sell the same amount of copies is some other publisher/deaveloper combo would have released the exact same game under a different name.

    • Great point, and I’m pretty sure the answer to that would be NO!
      I suppose you could use Michael Jackson as an example ie; he hasn’t or should I say didn’t release one decent song since his BAD album but still sold billion of records off the back of his name

    • Good point! I would love to see that happen

Comments are now closed for this post.