Modern Warfare 2 headshots entertainment industry records

Holy recessions, Batman. Yesterday, Activision Blizzard, which publishes Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, said it estimates the game has made entertainment industry history by raking in over half a billion dollars in just five days.

Activision thinks the 18-rated game beat all previous movie, music, video game and book records across the board. It predicts Modern Warfare 2 pulled in more moolah in its first five days than the latest Harry Potter movie did, which holds the record as the highest-grossing worldwide cinema release in a five-day opening period.

Let's not forget context, though. Modern Warfare 2 had an RRP of £55 -- that's almost seven times as much as a cinema ticket costing £8, although the game was heavily discounted in many stores.

The publisher believes the game also beat the previously held record for (deep breath) highest-grossing worldwide video game release in a five-day period -- Grand Theft Auto IV snagged $500m in its first week on the streets. That's 'just' $50m less than MW2.

Selling half a billion dollars worth of nonsense wouldn't be anything to shout about, but Modern Warfare 2 has been extremely well-received. Our sister site GameSpot gave the game 9 out of 10, and Metacritic, which pulls together review scores from all over the Web, gave it a metascore of 94 out of 100.

Activision still doesn't seem happy though, saying in a statement it "remains cautious about... the global economy" and that consumer spending "remains a significant concern". There's just no pleasing some people.

Played the game? Let us know what you thought of it in the comments.