Call of Duty is a franchise where strong launch sales have become the norm, but fan fervor for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is proving palpable as the new title is significantly outperforming its 2021 predecessor, Call of Duty: Vanguard. It isn't abnormal for the long-running series to experience these kings of ebbs and flows in sales following the dominance of the Black Ops and Modern Warfare games, due to the series pushing 20 years on the market and the changing state of sales as digital becomes dominant. However, it hasn't taken away from Call of Duty's overall popularity with players and, as sales show, the love for Modern Warfare is still alive and well.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the fifth title in the Modern Warfare sub-franchise and second in the rebooted series, picking up after the events of 2019's Modern Warfare. The campaign once again follows Capt. John Price, along with the newly formed Task Force 141, as they investigate a possible terrorist plot being added by a notorious Mexican drug cartel. On the multiplayer side, players have the option to hop into either Core Map modes, offering a more traditional 6v6 Call of Duty PvP experience, or Battle Map modes, for players looking to enjoy bigger maps with matches of 32v32.

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While the full game has only been out for four days as of this writing, physical sales are proving to be a vast improvement from 2021's Vanguard. GamesIndustry.biz reports Modern Warfare 2 is outpacing physical sales of the World War 2-era Call of Duty by 42%, which Activision blamed partly on the game's setting. Modern Warfare 2 is outpacing 2020's Black Ops: Cold War, as well, though only by around 10% given the Black Ops' series own popularity with players.

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The strong sales speak to the overall popularity of the Modern Warfare series which, some players would argue, made Call of Duty the juggernaut in gaming it is with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. As mentioned above, Call of Duty ruled the sales charts for the first half of the 2010s, with entries selling roughly 20 million physical units and establishing itself as a marquee brand in the greater entertainment industry. Black Ops 2 even hit the sales charts again in July 2022 with surprising strong sales in the United Kingdom during said month.

GameIndustry's report does account for the series' overall decline from those days, which players can argue isn't surprising due to a combination of the franchise's age, less-popular entries such as Infinite Warfare, and the rise of digital sales. The latter is the most wide-reaching reason for the decline of physical game sales as more players switch to online retailers like Steam and the Epic Games Store, eliminating the need for physical games. Streaming services such as the new PlayStation Plus Extra and Xbox Game Pass have also eaten into the need for purchasing games outright, thanks to a revolving collection of major titles.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is currently available for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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Source: GamesIndustry.biz