Following up on yesterday's report that this year's Modern Warfare 2 had the biggest Call of Duty launch ever on the PlayStation store, Activision has officially confirmed via an article on Business Wire that this success extends beyond just the PlayStation platform. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) had the best-selling opening weekend overall in the history of the franchise, raking in over $800 million in just three days of being present on the market (and pre-orders beforehand).
The article claims that this opening tops even this year's biggest blockbuster box office openings, its earnings surpassing Top Gun: Maverick's and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' opening weekends combined. It explains that the record for fastest-selling Call of Duty game was previously held by 2011's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which took five days to reach a similar amount of income. Unsurprisingly, this year's Modern Warfare 2 has also broken franchise records for number of unique players and total hours of playtime in the first three days post-release.
Call of Duty has been one of the top-selling video game franchises for a while, its titles often leading the yearly sales charts. Many analysts had wondered if the series' long-standing dominance would ever begin to slow down, but it's quite clear that, if it does, it's not happening any time soon.
Though it's possible for sales to wane heavily in the future, this is the prime scenario for Modern Warfare 2 to become the best-selling game in the entire series. Currently, that title is held by this game's predecessor, 2019's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which sits at over 30 million units sold. Modern Warfare 2's rampant success is likely due to many factors. It's essentially a reboot to the identically-named Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which released in 2009. This is one of the most beloved entries in the entire franchise, due to what most consider to be a stellar campaign and a rewarding fast-paced multiplayer experience.
It's possible that the nostalgia for the name alone is drawing some people in for this year. Furthermore, the game is being sold as part of a PlayStation 5 bundle that's currently available to order online on-demand, a rare occurrence for the heavily supply-constrained console.
If the game grossed over 800 million USD, and it's being sold at 69.99 USD on all platforms (granted, price may vary by region), Modern Warfare 2 is likely to have already sold over 10 million units within just three days following its launch. A game's sales do tend to peak during launch and then plateau, but it's looking more and more possible for Call of Duty to yet again be the best-selling game of the year, surpassing Elden Ring, which is last reported to have sold 16 million units.