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Advanced Warfare pushes Call of Duty franchise past $10B in sales

The game is this year's biggest entertainment launch, according to Activision, though the company didn't say how much the game has generated in sales since its early November release.

Don Reisinger
CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
Don Reisinger
2 min read

Actor Kevin Spacey plays a central role in this year's Call of Duty game. Activision

The latest installment in the Call of Duty franchise has pushed the slate of games past a revenue milestone, game publisher Activision said Thursday.

Following the launch of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare earlier this month, total Call of Duty franchise sales now exceed $10 billion worldwide, Activision announced. That includes all titles in the franchise since its first release in 2003.

As it has in the past, Activision offered a favorable comparison to its success and that of other entertainment properties, including the "Hunger Games," "Transformers," and "Iron Man" movie franchises. However, it should be noted that Activision is counting revenue, and since games often go on sale for $60 and movie tickets are substantially cheaper, it may not be a fair comparison.

The announcement is also notable for not including actual sales figures for Advanced Warfare. For a string of years until 2013, Activision shared Call of Duty sales figures within 24 hours of launch and whenever it would reach the $1 billion in sales mark. That stopped last year with the launch of Call of Duty: Ghosts, which didn't receive the kind of critical acclaim previous titles in the franchise had.

Activision did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment on how much Advanced Warfare generated in revenue.

Although Activision was loath to offer actual revenue figures, the company did say that Advanced Warfare is the year's top entertainment launch, beating out any other video game, movie, book, or music launch in total revenue for the first week of sales. Activision also said that the first-person shooter generated 370 million online matches for multiplayer mode in its first week out.