The war of words between Activision-Blizzard 
and Electronic Arts has moved to a new plateau. Activision has added the rival publisher to its $400 countersuit against the creators of the “Call of Duty” franchise.
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge approved the amendment to the suit Thursday, acknowledging Activision’s allegations that EA wooed Jason West and Vince Zampella, the heads of the wholly-owned Infinity Ward subsidiary, while they were still under contract with Activision.
Activision’s “Call of Duty” franchise continues to 
set new bars in the entertainment industry. The latest installment in the series — subtitled “Black Ops” — has hit $1 billion in sales in just six weeks. The only other entertainment property to reach that milestone so quickly, according to the publisher, was James Cameron’s “Avatar.”
Like its predecessor, “Black Ops” came out of the gate strong. In its first five days on shelves, the game had sales of $650 million. It hit the $1 billion mark nearly a month quicker than “Modern Warfare 2,” and now stands poised to assume the crown of the top-grossing videogame of all time.
Any lingering fears about “Call of Duty: Black Ops” being overshadowed by its predecessor can now be dismissed—Activision-Blizzard announced Tuesday that the latest installment in the series has topped $1 billion in worldwide sales.
That’s nearly a month faster than “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” hit the milestone, and it indicates the publisher could be on track to once again set entertainment and video game industry records.
Activision’s “Call of Duty” machine is showing no signs of weakness.
“Call of Duty: Black Ops” has hit $1 billion in sales in just six weeks, the company announced today. And the user engagement numbers are somehow even more impressive.
Read more at Variety’s Technotainment blog
“Black Ops” brought some black ink for the video game industry in November.
Retail software sales posted impressive growth over 2009 numbers, marking the first time the industry has posted back-to-back gains this year.
Activision has done something no 
other publisher has been able to do this year – pull the video game industry out of its retail sales slump for the second consecutive month.
“Call of Duty: Black Ops” led the industry to an impressive 9 percent gain over the 2009 retail sales numbers. Add in hardware, Kinect and the rest of the assorted offerings and the gaming industry made $2.95 billion last month, according to The NPD Group. That’s the best November on record.
“Call of Duty: Black Ops” continues to break entertainment industry records.
Activision announced Thursday that the latest installment in its multibillion-dollar franchise has generated sales of $650 million in its first five days — an 18% (and $100 million) improvement over last year’s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.” That makes the game’s opening the highest for an entertainment property — of any sort — in history.
Gamasutra’s Chris Morris talks to Eric Hirshberg, 
CEO of Activision about why, despite a stronger opening week, the company predicts total sales of Call of Duty: Black Op will fall below those of last year’s Modern Warfare 2.
As Treyarch and Activision’s Call Of Duty: Black Ops continues to smash entertainment industry records, analysts who cover Activision are scrambling to up their year-end sales predictions. At the publisher, though, things haven’t changed.
Despite the fact that Black Ops sales are tracking 18 percent ahead of where Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare 2 was at this point it its life cycle, Activision is still officially estimating that the game’s performance will fall just short of last year’s sales totals.
“Call of Duty: Black Ops” 
continues to devastate entertainment industry records.
Activision today announced the latest installment in its multibillion dollar franchise has generated sales of $650 million in its first five days on shelves – an 18 percent (and $100 million) improvement over last year’s “Modern Warfare 2”. That makes the game the highest opening entertainment property – of any sort – in history.
Gamers have enthusiastically answered 
Activision Blizzard’s “Call of Duty,” as the publisher celebrated Veterans Day with a victory as its military videogame became the biggest entertainment launch in history.
That record already belonged to the industry’s biggest gamemaker when Activision’s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” stormed into stores last November.
Chris Morris: Journalist 