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Activision share price jumps as Call of Duty revenues pass $10bn
The Call of Duty franchise has generated revenues in excess of $10bn just over a decade, its creator said today.
According to the game’s publisher, Activision Blizzard, sales of the new Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare have propelled the franchise's overall revenues over the $10bn mark.
Clearly, investors liked what they heard: shares in the video game publisher shot up seven per cent in early morning trading.
Activision Blizzard claims Advanced Warfare, which stars Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey, is the “biggest entertainment launch of the year”, beating every other video game, movie, music release or book.
However, the company did not reveal exact figures of Advance Warfare sales.
It added that its “biggest entertainment release of the year" mantle was based on retail and digital sell-through data, meaning number of copies actually sold to consumers, rather than those shipped to retailers.
Activision added that it believed Advanced Warfare had enjoyed the highest-selling digital launch in console history, according to Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and its own internal estimates.
Eric Hirshberg, Activision Publishing's chief exec, said:
We poured our hearts into making Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare an epic ride, and we are pleased with the performance.Sales and engagement are up through the first week compared to last year. Season Pass sales are up, as well.The game has been very positively reviewed and the response from fans has been tremendous. We believe Advanced Warfare will be the most successful game of the year and we thank our fans for making it the biggest entertainment launch of the year.
Activision chief executive Bobby Kotick noted:
…franchise revenues have exceeded $10bn in sales worldwide, far exceeding box office receipts for such household movie franchises as Hunger Games, Transformers, Iron Man and Avengers combined.
According to sales monitor Chart Track, Advanced Warfare has been the best-selling game in the UK in its first two weeks of sales.
The latest installment in the franchise was said to have “convincingly outsold” last year’s Call of Duty: Ghosts, but was only the fifth fastest-selling Call of Duty installment in the UK.
Activision enjoyed success in the UK market earlier in the year with the release of Destiny which, according to Chart Track, sold more games in its first week of UK sales than any other in history.
