Creator Activision has developed the Toy Story of video game franchises with the Call of Duty games, taking four spots on the top 10 list of best selling video games in history. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 comes in at No. 3, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare sits at No. 6, and Call of Duty: World at War rounds out the Top 10.
Sales have been strong for Black Ops since it dropped in November of last year. Selling 5.6 million copies on opening day, the game hit $360 million in sales in just 24 hours, and then $650 million in the first five days on the market. After one month on the market, Black Ops was already No. 7 on the all-time sales list, with 8.4 million copies moved, and it accounted for 25 percent of total video game sales in the opening month. After only six weeks on the market, Black Ops had made $1 billion in sales.
Black Ops represented a boon for the entire video game industry. Bolstered by its release, total sales in the industry hit a record $1.46 billion for November according to The NPD Group. Even with the overall U.S. economy still floundering, video game sales held strong for the year with $19.6 billion in sales.
Black Ops has been able to build on the success of the Call of Duty franchise by sticking with what worked. The feel and play of the game remain the same as earlier versions, but Black Ops features the strongest running storyline of the history of the franchise, as it follows soldier Alex Mason through a series of missions. It looks and feels more like a movie than a video game, bolstered by a host of familiar Hollywood voices. Sam Worthington, the star of Avatar and Clash of Titans voices Mason, and his Russian sidekick is the modern man of 1,000 faces, Gary Oldman. They’re joined by That 70’s Show’s Topher Grace, Academy Award nominee Ed Harris, and rapper/actor/producer Ice Cube.
“It’s a game that plays like a movie,” said fan Jeff Schwartz. “It would actually make a better movie than a lot of the action films I’ve seen lately.”
Black Ops also continues the strong multi-player feature that allows friends (and enemies) around the world to play each other online. However, the competitive nature of the game is amped up by the wager option that allows players to bet points that can be used to buy weaponry in the game against each other.
“Now that I’m in college, I keep up with my boys from high school by playing (Black Ops),” said another Call of Duty fan and college sophomore Arturo Torres. “We play every Tuesday all night.”
Black Ops also continues the hidden features of earlier versions, building on the Modern Warfare Nazi zombie option, with a zombie killer feature of its own.
Black Ops answered all of the questions asked when Activision split with previous Call of Duty creators Infinity Ward and handed the mantle for the new installment over to rival design firm Treyarch. Now, the only question remaining is if the Call of Duty juggernaut can keep on rolling. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 comes out next November and has huge shoes to fill on top of plenty of bad guys to kill.
