‘Call of Duty’ game sales top $1 billion

HOLLYWOOD — The video game industry got a shot of good news Wednesday: Activision Blizzard Inc. said sales of its blockbuster “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” have exceeded $1 billion worldwide since it launched Nov. 10.

Although the Santa Monica-based publisher didn’t specify how many units it had sold, that’s probably close to 15 million based on the 8 million units the game sold in its first week, generating $550 million in receipts.

That means the game probably already is, or soon will be, ahead of the 14.4 million units of “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” sold in 2007, previously the best-selling title in the hugely popular 6-year-old “Call of Duty” military shooter series.

“Modern Warfare 2” now ranks among the best-selling video games of all time, including sequels to the “Grand Theft Auto” and “Super Mario” series.

Although sales of video games, which cost $60 or more each, are difficult to compare with theatrical box office, Activision is no doubt thrilled that its $1-billion-plus game may now be compared to “Avatar,” which recently became only the fifth movie ever to gross more than $1 billion worldwide.

The game’s continued success is good news for Activision and the industry but is far from enough to make up for what has been a difficult year for video game disc sales.

The NPD Group, which tracks retail game revenue in the U.S., said Thursday that sales of games for portable and console systems, plus hardware and accessories, totaled nearly $19.66 billion last year, down 8 percent from the $21.4 billion generated in 2008.

Sales of PC games were down even more sharply, off 23 percent to $538 million last year.

Sales of music games have been particularly hard hit during the economic downturn. That’s just as painful as “Modern Warfare 2” is profitable for Activision Blizzard.

Activision owns the “Guitar Hero” franchise and released four sequels or spinoffs from September to December.

Of the 10 top-selling software packages — some of which include hardware elements, such as a wheel controller with Mario Kart — seven were published by Nintendo of America, six for the Wii console and one for the Nintendo DS handheld, according to the NPD Group.