The Guiness World Record book has acknowledged Modern Warfare 2 as the most successful entertainment launch of all time, replacing Grand Theft Auto IV, which replaced Halo 3.
In the first 24 hours following its release, Modern Warfare 2 racked in a monstrous $401.6 million (R 2,931,000,000). This figure didn’t just beat GTAIV, it did so by a margin of $90 million.
This is more money than any movie, book, album or other game has ever made in its first 24 hours.
“Video game releases such as the Call of Duty series have outperformed the launches of major Hollywood blockbusters for several years and the day-one sales for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 proved once again that video games have become cultural events in their own right. The fan movement and hype surrounding this game in the run-up to launch was almost unprecedented in scale; we acknowledged early on that the big question wasn’t if it would break all-time entertainment records, but rather by how much,” said Guinness Gaming Edition Editor Gaz Deaves.
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