For the third 
year in a row, the “Call of Duty” video game franchise has set entertainment industry records, once again claiming the crown for the biggest product launch of all time.
Activision reports “Modern Warfare 3” sold 6.5 million copies in the U.S. and U.K. in its first 24 hours on shelves, earning $400 million. That tops last year’s $360 million haul from the series’ “Black Ops” installment and the $310 million earned by 2009’s “Modern Warfare 2.”
With the holiday 
season fast approaching, analysts chime in with their game sales predictions, noting that the core gamer is “the demographic to watch this year” and examining the software battle for third place.
Gamers might be celebrating a horn of gaming plenty this holiday season, but it’s still up in the air if retailers will be cheering along.
The fourth quarter of 2011 has one of the most impressive lineups of titles in years. And it’s off to what seems to be a good start.Gears of War 3 sold 3 million copies in its first week. Battlefield 3 hit 5 million in that time. And the launch of Modern Warfare 3 will top that.
There’s little doubt 
that today’s launch of “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” will set new entertainment industry records for first week revenues. But to put things in perspective, here are a few numbers – some hard, some estimated by analysts –showing how big of a monster this franchise has turned into.
If you thought 
that guy who bid $1,725 for an early copy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was a bit too eager to play the game, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Over the weekend, two separate delivery trucks carrying copies of the heavily-anticipated shooter were hijacked in France. French police estimate the stolen shipments to be worth roughly 780,000 euros (about $1.1 million).
Activision turned 
heads last year with its eye-popping “There’s a Soldier in All of Us” campaign for “Call of Duty: Black Ops”. Now it’s upping the ante.
Jonah Hill (“Superbad”) and Sam Worthington (“Avatar”) headline the campaign’s new installment – with a quick cameo from Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard. And it’s just as heart pounding as the original.
While there’s 
little doubt the videogame industry will once again end the year with negative growth, publishers are certainly positioning themselves to go out with good fight this holiday season.
The lineup of major franchises releasing games in the fourth quarter is unparalleled this year and could be a boon for both players and game makers — and, ultimately, investors.
Call of Duty fans 
are a dedicated bunch. So when word escaped earlier this week that certain Sears and K-mart locations had mistakenly put upcoming release Modern Warfare 3 on sale early, they descended, buying what they could before the store realized its error.
And, true to form in the gaming world, a few cash-strapped types immediately put those copies up for sale on eBay. Some went for a couple hundred dollars, but one lucky seller saw a bidding war erupt — and may have walked away with $1,725 for his copy.
The cost of war
is high at Electronic Arts, but the rewards are even higher.
Battlefield 3, the company’s answer to industry juggernaut Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, has burst out of the gate by selling 5 million copies in its first week alone. That’s a record for EA and enough to make it the industry’s best launch this year — though it probably won’t hold that title for long.
Electronic Arts has snatched away bragging rights for the year’s biggest video game launch as the company’s much anticipated ”Battlefield 3” has sold more than 5 million units in its first week, making it the fastest-selling game in the company’s history.
The big bow unseats Microsoft’s ”Gears of War 3,” which boasted first week sales of 3 million copies in September — but it’s likely to be a short-lived victory. The launch of ”Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” is expected to set entertainment industry launch records, as the series has done for the past two years.
The supposed war 
between EA’s Battlefield 3 and Activision’s Modern Warfare 3 is not a zero-sum game — both publishers can come out as winners, says Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris.
And so it begins. After months of sniping, posing and stare downs, Electronic Arts and Activision officially went to war Tuesday, with Battlefield 3 hitting store shelves, hoping to knock the Call of Duty series from its king of the hill position in the action shooter genre.
That’s how the story has been set up, at least. The battle of titans makes for a great headline, after all. And as we all learned from the movie Highlander, there can be only one, right? Poppycock.
Chris Morris: Journalist 