Modern Warfare 2 makes a billion bucks
Posted by Jeff Morgan (01/15/2010 @ 6:08 pm)
You know what’s not a bad way to start a new year? How bout announcing that your latest title has sold more than a billion dollars worth. Yes, Modern Warfare 2 has reached that rare milestone among industry developments, and it’s still going strong.
“There are only a handful of entertainment properties that have ever reached the $1 billion mark,” said Activision CEO Bob Kotick, “which illustrates the power of the Call of Duty franchise and mass appeal of this game.” In case you’ve forgotten the baffling sales statistics, more than half of that billion was made in the first five days the game was available. Utterly insane.
In other new, Avatar (the movie, not the game) broke the billion dollar mark not too long ago, putting the two in a race to beat out Titanic’s $1.8 billion gross and Guitar Hero III‘s $2 billion.
Rhythm games begin their inevitable decline
Posted by Jeff Morgan (12/21/2009 @ 11:43 am)
The world’s love affair with plastic instruments was bound to end some time and it looks as though that time is now. According to the latest NPD data, rhythm games are struggling, showing weak sales despite new genre releases like DJ Hero and The Beatles: Rock Band.
As always, things are relative. The games may not be doing as well as they were, but Michael Pachter still thinks the niche will level out somewhere around $500 million in sales a year. That’s a pretty little penny, even for a company like Activision. Developers need to pick their ventures wisely, though. DJ Hero tanked. Hard. In a shrinking market that’s the last thing you want, especially after paying for the likes of Jay-Z and Eminem. Even The Beatles: Rock Band undersold expectations by 200,000 units.
Source: Reuters
Posted in: Activision, Nintendo Wii, PS3, Xbox 360
Tags: dj hero, game sales, guitar hero, guitar hero 3, guitar hero 5, rhythm game decline, rhythm game slump, rhythm games, rock band, the beatles: rock band
Modern Warfare 2 tops the 2009 US sales list
Posted by Jeff Morgan (12/16/2009 @ 7:03 pm)
NPD put out the sales numbers for 2009 with few surprises. The Xbox 360 version of Modern Warfare 2 was the biggest by far, which should be a real shock. What might actually interest you is that Nintendo has nearly every other title in the top 10. Halo 3: ODST made it in at number six, and the PS3 version of MW2 is buried near the bottom.
Other than those few titles, it’s all Nintendo, and these are just the US numbers. Sony can’t be too happy about the fact that there isn’t an exclusive PS3 title on the list.
1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (360)
2. Wii Fit (Wii)
3. Wii Sports Resort (Wii)
4. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
5. Wii Play (Wii)
6. Halo 3: ODST (360)
7. Pokemon Platinum (DS)
8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3)
9. Madden NFL 10 (360)
10. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
Source: Industry Gamers
Forza 3 sells a million units
Posted by Jeff Morgan (12/08/2009 @ 5:57 pm)
During its first month at retail, Forza 3 sold through more than a million copies worldwide. To give a little something back this holiday season, Turn 10 is releasing the Hot Holidays pack with ten new cars to keep you busy.
With the DLC you’ll get the following:
1. 2010 Ferrari 599XX
2. 2010 Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss
3. 2010 Lamborghini LP6700-4 SV
4. 2010 Porsche Panamera Turbo
5. 2010 Ferrari 458 Italia
6. 2010 Jaguar XFR
7. 2010 Audi S4
8. 2009 Aston Martin #007 AMR Lola
9. 2009 Audi #2 Sport Team Joest R15 TDI
10. 2010 Nissan GT-R Spec V
The developer also released usage stats for the first month. Players logged a whopping 6.6 million man hours in the game, including 64 million player sessions over 590 million miles of track. Not too shabby considering the other titles released in the same quarter (*cough* Modern Warfare 2 *cough*).
Source: Kotaku
