MW2 - Modern Warfare is winning the sales game

So maybe you are skeptical that content matters? Here’s food for thought. According to Broadpoint AmTech analyst Ben Schachter Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 had already sold over 1.2 million copies the first day of release in the U.K. alone.

There are some experts questioning the reporting data and how those numbers could be tabulated so quickly. I’m no expert but am questioning them too. Are they counting units shipped? If so, that should be pretty easy. The fervor is a demand creator. Clever don’t you think?

Extrapolating from the U.K. sales data and the approximate 2-to-1 relationship between Modern Warfare 2 and the previous U.K. record holder Grand Theft Auto IV, Schachter has estimated that Modern Warfare 2 has sold around 7 million units across the globe in its first 24 hours. For comparison purposes, GTA IV sold "only" 3.7 million units on its first day. The game costs U.S. $ 60 (or you can buy the Prestige edition for $ 160) – if you can get it at all. Analysts are saying that MW2 will sell over $ 1 billion dollars of the game in just a few months.

How many products do you know of that have the capacity to sell a billion dollars in as short a time frame as several months? My 20 year old son has obtained the game and rates it a WOW! (not World of Warcraft which is another HUGE franchise). He is not at all surprised the game is doing so well – it’s that good – or so he says
since I have not seen nor played the game and likely will not ever do so.

My WOW was the speed and breadth of how MW2 caught the attention not just of gamers but business people (jealous ones no doubt). What it means to me is that if a company comes up with the right product, at the right price, for the right audience, amazing success is still possible.

In a constantly changing world some things won’t change so much. And that’s reassuring to me. Is it to you?