Call of Duty Black Ops III Brings in Over $550 Million for Opening Weekend
Eat your heart out Hollywood because the video game industry just pulled in a gigantic blockbuster weekend with Call of Duty Black Ops III. Activision has announced that the latest installment of the blockbuster Call of Duty franchise pulled in over $550 million in worldwide sales in its first three days of release. The game was released last Friday, November 6. That wasn’t the only milestone for Call of Duty Black Ops III. Per Activision, Black Ops III garnered the highest per player engagement that was ever recorded for the Call of Duty franchise, with more than 75 million hours of online play already recorded over the course of three days. In short, Call of Duty probably isn’t going away anytime soon.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is clearly ecstatic over the news, saying: “Call of Duty’s millions of passionate fans have shown us, yet again, the strength of their commitment to this enduring franchise. Call of Duty: Black Ops III is the biggest entertainment launch this year in any medium, and bigger than any theatrical opening weekend ever.”
Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg added: “The Call of Duty: Black Ops III launch is bigger than any game, any movie, or any entertainment launch this year. But more importantly, our fans are engaging more deeply with the franchise than ever before. In fact, so far, people are playing Black Ops III for more hours per player than any Call of Duty game on record. Call of Duty is more than a game, it’s a year round passion for a growing base of millions of fans and it’s only gaining momentum.”
For additional sales data, the PlayStation 4 version of Black Ops III has set a new record as the best-selling digital full game by units sold in its first day of availability in PS4 history. Black Ops III also became the No. 1 most streamed and most viewed game of any game launch in 2015, per Twitch.tv. In addition, the game had a bigger opening weekend than Jurassic World, the biggest hit movie of the year.
Call of Duty Black Ops III is currently available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Windows PC.