Activision has announced that the launch of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 has set unprecedented new records upon its release. Modern Warfare 2, developed by Infinity Ward, has quickly become the most lucrative launch in the history of the long-running franchise.The Call of Duty franchise has been one of the most popular first-person shooters since its inception in 2003, with each new edition enjoying blockbuster level sales. The 2019 reboot of 2007's Modern Warfare released to sales of in excess of $600 million in the first three days of its launch, going on to make over $1 billion in sales. The success of the reboot set the wheels in motion for a new era of Call of Duty games, alongside the immense popularity of its Warzone battle royale mode.Modern Warfare 2 was released on October 28, 2022 and has delivered the largest opening weekend in franchise history with through sales topping $800 million in the first three days of sales. The previous 5-day record set by 2011's Modern Warfare 3 of $775 million has already been surpassed, giving Modern Warfare 2 the biggest entertainment opening of the year, outdoing Top Gun: Maverick and Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness' combined box office openings. Alongside this Modern Warfare 2 set new player participation records for the number of unique players and hours played during its first three days.
Johanna Faries, General Manager of Call of Duty, said, "an unprecedented level of support for the Modern Warfare universe is on the horizon and Warzone 2.0’s launch is right around the corner. It’s an incredible time for the franchise.”
The news of Modern Warfare 2's success will come as no surprise to fans of the franchise, who have come to expect high quality experiences from Activision and Infinity Ward in their releases. With Microsoft's ongoing acquisition of Activision Blizzard, there is question over the Call of Duty franchise's future as a multi-platform release, with some fearing Microsoft may attempt to make the lucrative releases an Xbox/PC exclusive in order to corner the market. Although Xbox head Phil Spencer announced that this will not be the case, the popularity of Call of Duty and Modern Warfare 2's record-breaking numbers cannot be ignored as an incentive to ship future titles to as many platforms as possible.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.