On Friday, November 16 video game developer Activision Blizzard Inc. stated that its latest high profile release, “Call of Duty: Black Ops II”, hit more than US$500-million in sales within the first 24 hours of release. The incredible sales numbers have made the game a certified hit and also set a new record for video game units sold.
Another big release that took place in the video game industry was Halo 4 from Microsoft which had US$220-million in sales on its first day. The latest success from Activision is follow up to its release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in 2011 when the company had US$400 million in sales on the first day while totaling $1-billion after 16 days of launch.
Activision has been very positive about its outlook thanks to strong demand for the game during the holiday season. The world’s largest video game publisher thinks that it can beat sales from last year and has raised its earnings outlook. Interestingly, the company revised their forecast November 16 to more dialed down totals for 2012 and 2013 even though they had record breaking sales. Many observers have been looking at the launch from the company because overall the video game industry has seen its revenues fall considerably as more fringe gamers move to mobile devices, particularly tablets.
Activision’s latest release does give hope that the video game industry will be stable for at least the foreseeable future. The company claimed that its Call of Duty franchise was “the biggest entertainment launch of the year for the fourth year in a row.” The company pointed at the millions that attended the 16,000 global midnight releases at retail locations. The good news about the company’s latest release also caused the shares of the firm to climb 14 cents to US$10.70. The game was also featured on YouTube, allowing fans to watch live streamed matches.
Source: Financial Post
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