In 24 hrs, Call of Duty go past $500m
The latest Call of Duty videogame had worldwide sales of more than $500 million in the first 24 hours of its release, a new record, game publisher Activision Blizzard Inc said on Friday.
Shares of Activision rose about 3 percent following the news, even after the company said it remains cautious about the rest of 2012 and 2013 due to the macro-economic environment.
The note of caution likely means Activision is preparing to provide 2013 financial targets that are below Wall Street expectations, Brean Murray, Carret & Co analyst Todd Mitchell said. But he expects a strong fourth quarter.
The combination of the strong 'Call of Duty' and good indications on 'Skylander' (another Activision game) points to a very strong quarter, Mitchell said.
While Call of Duty: Black Ops II had first-day sales of more than $500 million, Microsoft Corp's sci-fi action-shooter Halo 4, launched a week earlier, had sales of $220 million on its first day.
In 2011, Activision reported first-day sales of about $400 million in North America and the UK for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and sales of $1 billion after 16 days. North America and the UK are Activision's biggest markets, according to Hudson Square analyst Daniel Ernst.
Mitchell said, I assume the sell-through on (Black Ops II) will be strong enough that it beats last year's launch when you look at first-week sales
Activision, the world's largest videogame publisher, raised its earnings outlook last week on expectations for strong holiday sales of the
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