A computer game has become the fastest computer game ever to make a billion dollars in sales – in only 15 days.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II generated £622 million in a little over two weeks since it was released – including selling a whopping eight million titles in the first 24 hours.
Worldwide, the game has sold an estimated massive ten copies every SECOND, making it the most popular entertainment release ever.
The highest grossing film of all time, Avatar, took 17 days to reach the billion dollar milestone, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III reached the magic number 16 days after it was released last year.
Year-on-year, the launch of the latest Call of Duty game smashes all previous sales records.
Bobby Kotick, CEO of game publishers Activision, said: “The release of Call of Duty has been one of the most significant entertainment events of each of the last six years.
“Since Call of Duty was launched, cumulative franchise revenues from players around the world are greater than current worldwide box office receipts to date for the top-10 grossing films of 2012 combined.
“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.”
More than 150 million hours have been logged by gamers playing online, since its release on November 13.
Activision chief publisher Eric Hirschberg said: “Entertainment franchises that captivate audiences for as long as Call of Duty has, on the scale that Call of Duty has, are very rare things.
“And it takes a lot of brilliant people working across many different disciplines to make it happen. It is incredibly humbling and gratifying to be a part of.
“In order for Call of Duty to remain the entertainment juggernaut that it is, and keep our fans coming back for more, we need to continue to bring fresh ideas and new innovations to the table every time, while always staying true to what people fell in love with in the first place.
“That’s what we did with Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and that’s what we intend to keep on doing.
“This is an incredible milestone for an incredible franchise, and I want to thank every passionate, talented, committed person on our team who made it happen.”
Eager gamers braved the cold and queued outside HMV Oxford Street for a week to be the first to get their hands on the game at the midnight launch.
The 18-rated shooting game is available on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, and will soon be available on new console Wii U.
