14 DAY TRIAL // Publisher Activision has announced that the Call of Duty franchise managed to earn over $10 / €8 billion since it was first launched, back in 2013.
According to the company’s claims, it means that the series made more than "The Hunger Games," "Transformers" and "Avengers" combined, showing that the video games industry has surpassed the movie industry once more, even when major franchises and blockbusters are concerned.
The latest installment in the series is Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, a futuristic take on the classic wartime action of the highly popular first-person shooter franchise.
“We poured our hearts into making Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare an epic ride,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, as quoted by BBC.
The game was one of the most highly anticipated titles of 2014, and it was an incredible commercial success.
One of the biggest launches of the year
Publisher Activision and developer Sledgehammer Games claim that Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare was the biggest entertainment launch of 2014, managing to break all previous records, including the one set by Bungie’s Destiny.
Destiny is another heavy hitter from Activision, a fresh new intellectual property that the company intends to develop into yet another billion-dollar franchise, just like Call of Duty, due to its potential to cater to a more science-fiction oriented audience, and to Bungie’s extensive experience crafting award-winning first-person shooter video games.
While Destiny was successful, it was nothing compared to the widespread excitement surrounding Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Activision even claims that the military shooter managed to make more money in its opening week than any other entertainment product launched this year, including movies, books and music albums.
A bright future ahead
The latest installment in the first-person shooter franchise has also become the highest grossing digital title in history on consoles, a claim Activision made based on data collected from Xbox Live, the PlayStation Network, as well as its own internal estimates.
Sledgehammer Games is looking to launch the first piece of downloadable content for Advanced Warfare sometime at the start of next year, and is also working on solving some of the most glaring issues reported by the fanbase.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare was released on November 4 and is currently available on PC, on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 home consoles from Sony, as well as on the Xbox One and Xbox 360 computer entertainment systems from Microsoft.
