From ARS Technica

Activision sent out a proud press release stating that Modern Warfare 2 has sold over $1 billion worth of product worldwide. This is according to internal estimates, of course, but the Call of Duty franchise is large enough to make the claim believable.

"Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has exceeded our expectations and shattered theatrical box office and video game records," said Robert "Bobby" Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. "There are only a handful of entertainment properties that have ever reached the $1 billion mark, which illustrates the power of the Call of Duty franchise and mass appeal of this game." So the question is simple: what can we learn from Modern Warfare 2?
Price matters

"In its first five days alone, the game sold an estimated $550 million worldwide, outpacing five-day worldwide theatrical box office gross figures for such films as Avatar, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and The Dark Night," Activision crows. Those numbers are taken from internal estimates and boxofficemojo.com.

They only tell half the story, however. A ticket to a movie costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $10, depending on where you live. Avatar's box office records owe a bit to the higher price of 3D and IMAX tickets. A copy of Modern Warfare 2 costs $60... at the minimum. If you bought the Prestige Edition, you paid much more for your copy of the game. While PC versions of games are usually only $50, Activision went ahead and charged $60. Why? Because people will pay it.

When the cheapest way to get a product is $60, of course you're going to beat sales of something that costs $15 or less. If you look at how many people each property reached, you'd have a very different view of things.        [More...] [Comments...]