GameStop: Modern Warfare 2 'could be the best selling title of all time'

by Randy Nelson on Aug 21st 2009 6:40PM

Tony Bartel, GameStop's executive vice president of merchandising and marketing, has some high expectations for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. In fact, he told shareholders and media listening in on the company's recent Q2 earnings call that the latest Infinity Ward FPS "could be the best selling title of all time," IndustryGamers reports. Of all time.

That would be quite an impressive feat, given the titles it'd need to trample in order to become king of the hill. In its 21 months on sale, the original Modern Warfare has sold 7.7 million copies across all platforms in the US, according to NPD. For comparison, Wii Play, which has sold more than 11 million copies in the states according to NPD, leads the all-time best sellers list for games that were never bundled with a console or handheld. If you consider pack-ins, it'd have to beat Wii Sports' nearly 24 million units in the States. To do that, every PS3 and Xbox 360 owner in the US would need to buy a copy.

So, yes: It could be the best selling game of all time. Emphasis on "could."

Source

Tags: activision, activision-blizzard, call-of-duty, call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2, gamestop, infinity-ward, Microsoft, modern-warfare-2, sales, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (112)

Since sliced bread?

It won't be. I mean, look at the Sims. Do they really think it can trump something so casual?

Not to even mention Super Mario Bros., THE best selling title of all time with something like 40m copies.

MW2 will sell like crazy, but not that crazy.

I call it pre-hype. sadly (or fortunately), not everyone likes war games. Maybe if they decided to make something more like Metal Gear.

and what do you think metal gear is? a sports game?

I'm sorry, does someone think that the latest Metal Gear sold more than the latest Call of Duty?

Ridgecity, you must have the wrong Metal Gear. And last time I checked, Call of Duty 4 sold much better than MGS4

Fear not, WINterfang.

Not even Hideo Kojima, the creator of Metal Gear, understands the story.

Read this article:

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/08/21/confused-about-metal-gear-solids-timeline-so-is-hideo-kojima/

even if you change it so MW2 is the best selling game of all time which was not bundled with the console it would be difficult to surpass 22 million sales for wii-play, 21 million for wii fi or 17 mil wii kart.

Anemos, Hideo Kojima, the creator of Metal Gear, understands the story. It's just that the story of the series occurs for like 50 years so its timeline is a bit confusing as much for us, gamers, as it is for him. But he obviously understands the universe -he- himself created.

does Wii sports 1 really count? I mean it came with the millions of Wiis that shipped :O

Wii Play shouldn't count either, considering it was bundled with a Wiimote...

ecko - Using that reasoning would mean that the Prestige edition of Modern Warfare 2 should be excluded from sales numbers because they come bundled with a plastic head and night vision goggles.

@ mushashi:

Um no. Horrible comparison. I only bought Wii Play because it was a remote (that I needed) and the equivalent of a $10 game (which turned out to be shit and only played twice). The primary reason for getting Wii Play was the extra Wii remote, whereas the primary reason for getting the Prestige edition of Modern Warfare 2 is the game then the secondary extras including the night vision goggles. If Wii Play was not bundled with the Wii Remote, I would not have bought it for more than $5. Ergo, Modern Warfare 2 is not a good comparison to Wii Play.

@ WiiFTW

I see your point but the fact still remains; it wasn't bundled with a console and loads of people bought it.

Not if they're selling it for as much as they're planning to... I seriously will wait for the price drop, because guess what?

There are TONS of good games out there from now until Q1 of 2010!

I agree, and would like to add that after Q1 2010, we'll have enough good games to keep us occupied until Q1 2011.

The main 3 games that will take up my time this last quarter is Batman,Beatles Rock Band and Borderlands.
With those 3 i am set, but of course i will probably wait until q1 next year, when all the good games that came out on q4 09 will be on sale just like last year.

thats 2010, this game is going to come out in time for the holiday release and actually have scared off a large portion of its competition. even preorders for the prestige edition (which is still 3 months away) are selling well and at $150 thats quite an achievement and gives you a sense of how popular this game is going to be.

Word up Wiizer. Yeah I just said word. Anyway, in case everyone forgot, MW1 is still funky fresh. Who needs to reign hell from above with an ac130 anyway?

Hmmm. Reign hell from above in an ac130? Yeah I'll be in line at midnight. Sorry Wiizer. The ac130 has countermeasures too. Did I mention Keith David also?100 proof awesome sauce.

I stopped reading your comment with any sense of seriousness after you said, "Word up".

But, that's okay! I'm sure 10 hours of single player campaign will make you feel better about your purchase.

if there's no more clown closets, then I'm (probably) in for giving activision my money

There will be clown closets.

and he just jinxed himself.....

This makes me NOT want the game for some reason...

That is sooo not going to happen if they have those high prices...

beating out SMB3? Isn't that some crazy number like 35 mil at this point?, if we're talking ALL TIME. I would think it's going to beat out anything in the near term, sales wise. Smart move to port the original to the Wii at the same time - so when everyone is talking about the game at stores, there's a copy for everyone.

Prostitution. Wow, I went from super mario to hookers in one post. nice. Get Ron in here....

Hold on a sec, isn't super Mario Bros the best selling game of all time if we consider bundles, I'm pretty sure it came with EVERY nes.

Wii Play is really a pack-in as well, people just get it cause it's only £2 more than the controller on its own. So in fact, it just needs to beat Nintendogs if you count all the different versions as one, or Pokemon Red/Blue if you don't.

Or New Super Mario Bros if you don't count red/blue as one game either :)

@gamestop: http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/4/44259/1087039-riveting_tale_chap_super.jpg

We are NOT going to count a free "game" that comes with every Wii system sold here.

then wii fit and SMB3 would win.

I agree with tmac for once. Game sales in bundles shouldn't count, especially when the console has never shipped without the game... people don't have a choice to not buy Wii Sports...

So are the anti-Halo fanboys going to turn on this game too?

"COD:MW is soooo overrated"

"COD:MW got good reviews cause its popular!"

"The Campaign is overrated"

"Hurr Durr"

Nope.

Yep, I concur. The self proclaimed "non conformists" will all hate on this game.

It may not be the best selling title of all time, but it will still sell really well.

Call me a fanboy if you want but the campaign IS overrated. The MP of MW is the real meat of the game. That is not overrated, its not the best, but its still good.

I got downvoted for speculating on something so absurd? What is wrong with you? Did I piss off the Halo fanboys? The anti Halo fanboys? The Call of Duty fanboys? Or weeaboos?

You were annoying.

I agree with you, this place is full of followers and box players.....

CoD is a solid shooter, and has pretty good multiplayer (I'm a PC gamer, I wouldn't know about it on console) - but to me it lacks a certain spark of imagination and magic that makes my favorite games.

yea wii sports is bull shit,
and anyway did joystick forget about pc? and the fact that modernwarfare sold 14 million world wide

so you have to count
pc, 360, and ps3

plus the fact that the whole world will buy it

lol... no.

Uh...........Yeah. Good luck on that. I like Call of Duty 1 and 2. But the Modern Warfare games are fun, but not big enough to be the best ever. This is going to under perform with these expectations. I mean.........price drop, sure I might pick it up. Not if it stays so high.

I wasn't aware Pachter changed his name. Or that he was employed by Gamestop.

He didn't and he wasn't.

Pachter usually states the obvious, not the impossible.

and making generalized overstatements could be the most prevalent form of hype ever.

ever. = of all time.

So whats the highest selling game that ONLY comes with a game? I'm too lazy too look up reliable numbers...

If your count all the versions, its Nintendogs at over 20 million. Otherwise its New Super Mario bros at around 18 mil.

Not if they are just going to ignore the biggest console on the market (in sales I mean)

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GameStop: Modern Warfare 2 'could be the best selling title of all time'

Reader Comments (112)

Posted: Aug 21st 2009 6:41PM Cheesus Crust said

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