Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 rings up $400M in sales

Video game shatters sales record with entertainment franchise

Activision Blizzard's "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" video game shattered its own sales records with a staggering $400 million in sales on its first day in stores. The game went up for sale on November 8  in the United States and the United Kingdom alone.  The Santa-Monica based video game company broke last year's not-too shabby record of of 5.6 million units, worth $360 million in sales, in 24 hours.  

Feeling ballsy, Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard, Inc. said via a statement on Friday, "We believe the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the biggest entertainment launch of all time in any medium, and we achieved this record with sales from only two territories," adding, "Other than Call of Duty, there has never been another entertainment franchise that has set opening day records three years in a row. Life-to-date sales for the Call of Duty franchise exceed worldwide theatrical box office for "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings," two of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time."

Impressive indeed.

Last year's version of the game "Call of Duty: Black Ops" went on to sell an impressive $1 billion in less than two months.  

Shares of Activision, the largest U.S. video game company, rose 1.5 percent in light premarket trading to $13.17 on Friday.

Giving back.

In honor of Veterans Day, the company  also announced that to show "support and gratitude for the efforts of American servicemen and women," it donated $3 million to the Call of Duty Endowment, a non-profit organisation founded by by Bobby Kotick. The not-for-profit seeks to provide job placement and training for veterans.  This latest donation adds up to the  $2 million donated since its starts November 2009 for a grand total of $5 million.