Call Of Duty: Black Ops II sells for over $500 Million In Retail Sales In First 24 Hours

That's retail ... not e-tail. Dear gosh. Anyway, Activision Publishing announced that for the fourth consecutive year, the Call of Duty franchise has delivered the biggest entertainment launch of the year. The highly-anticipated Call of Duty: Black Ops II has achieved an estimated sell-through of more than $500 million worldwide in the first 24 hours of its release, according to Chart-Track, retail customer sell-through information and internal company estimates.

"With first day sales of over half a billion dollars worldwide, we believe Call of Duty is the biggest entertainment launch of the year for the fourth year in a row," said Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard, Inc. "Life-to-date sales for the Call of Duty franchise have exceeded worldwide theatrical box office receipts for "Harry Potter" and "Star Wars," the two most successful movie franchises of all time. Given the challenged macro-economic environment, we remain cautious about the balance of 2012 and 2013."

On November 13, 2012, millions of fans attended more than 16,000 midnight openings at retail stores worldwide. Reflecting the wave of excitement that swept the globe, Call of Duty: Black Ops II drove social conversation in its first 24 hours as it was a top trending topic globally on Twitter in 23 cities worldwide. Additionally, there have been more than 30 million YouTube video views of the game's live-action 'Surprise' launch trailer since its release on October 29, 2012.

"Call of Duty has become more than a product people buy, it's a brand people buy into. And every November we do more than just the launch of a game, we kick off an annual, unofficial but worldwide phenomenon called the Call of Duty season," said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. "I want to thank our incredible team at Treyarch for making an amazing game, everyone at Activision for making this brand a force of nature and our retail partners for their unprecedented support of this franchise. But most importantly I want to thank our millions of fans for their continued support and loyalty and for making us better every day."

Call of Duty: Black Ops II is available at retail locations worldwide on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, and Windows PC. The title is also expected to be released in North America for the new Wii U game system from Nintendo on November 18, 2012.