It was a big week for video game releases in the United States and United Kingdom, with two eagerly anticipated sequels hitting the shelves within days of one another: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 from Activision Blizzard, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim from Bethesda Softworks were both released this week.
Today, based on video game retail tracking data provided by Charttrack, Activision said the first day sales total for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in North America and the UK was $400 million dollars, or 6.5 million units.
The previous title in the series, Call of Duty : Black Ops made approximately $360 million on its first day last year, about 5.6 million units, so this represents a significant jump in single day sales.
This is an impressive first day indeed, especially because it only tallies the sales in two regional markets.
Activision's quarterly earnings showed that the company had almost tripled its profits by increasing its more efficient digitally-delivered sales.
What will be especially interesting to see will be the combined effect of the launch of both Skyrim and Modern Warfare 3 on net video game spending for this week.