Modern Warfare 3 pre-orders near 9 million, analyst says

by Richard Mitchell on Nov 8th 2011 12:30PM

According to Lazard Capital Markets' Atul Bagga, as reported by GameSpot, pre-orders for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 were nearly three times that of Battlefield 3, which pegs Activision's shooter at around 9 million pre-orders. The estimate puts Modern Warfare 3 pre-orders roughly 70 percent ahead of those for Modern Warfare 2 and 55 percent beyond Call of Duty: Black Ops. Furthermore, the analyst expects Modern Warfare 3 to move a full 20 million copies by the end of the year.

Those aren't exactly outlandish estimates, given the success of the franchise. Perhaps a more interesting study would be to gauge how many people are skipping work to play. Frankly, with Skyrim launching later this week, we fear worldwide productivity will flatline forever.

Source: GameSpot

Tags: analysis, analyst, call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3, lazard-capital-markets, microsoft, modern-warfare-3, pc, playstation, ps3, xbox

Reader Comments (95)

Guauge?

Spell check is for idiots!

i think with BF3/MW3 releasing this will be the last major salvo for fps domination. i think next year we will see the genre decline, and action/adventure, rise to the top, RPGs are also climbing back up the popularity ladder.
this is more of a wish than a prediction really.

@(Unverified)
Considering how Call of Duty only seems to break more and more records every time they rehas- I mean, create a sequel to it, I don't think that's especially likely. For better or worse, it's here to stay.

@(Unverified)

A/A and RPG aren't exactly underfed genres these days. Come to think of it, most genres have been pretty well represented in the past couple of years, as long as you have access to most platforms.

@(Unverified)

Well look at the good side, well not really.

Sledgehammer can now go back to finish their developing Action/Adventure Call of Duty game they were working on before they were forced to work on MW3.

@(Unverified) - I don't think you'll necessarily see the genre as a whole decline but I think it's possible that MW3 could be the peak of the CoD franchise's success.

That doesn't mean that CoD won't continue to do very well for the next few iterations, just that it won't do quite as well.

@Mcmax3000

That's what everyone said when MW2 was released. Black Ops as well.

@(Unverified)
Im feeling the exhausting of FPS.
Atleast the military shooters Bioshock 3/HL3 will still do well.

But i have a feeling people are going to be looking for more escapist type worlds.

@(Unverified)

BF3 is definitely my last Battlefield game and MW3 is my last CoD. I'm looking forward to another MoH and Brother in Arms!

@stiqlol

I read your post and immediately heard:

./` Here comes Elder Scrolls, here comes Elder Scrolls, right down Elder Scrolls Lane... ./`

@Zoot Suit Jedi Grammar Hammer En - I can't speak for anyone else but this is the first time I've personally said it. I may very well be completely wrong but I've thought for a long time that the end of the Modern Warfare trilogy would be the peak.

@(Unverified)

Fad or not...it's here to stay!

Winter is coming...

It has a 1.4/10 USER metacritic score!

@Slomoshun

Video gamers are elitest assholes. News at eleven!

@baby sea tuna

So video gamers reviewing a game and giving it bad scores are elitists now?

Hmm..seems like you can't walk an inch in this world without being a fanboy, newb or an elitist.

News at 11:01.

@baby sea tuna

*Elitist*

Ugh, looks like I need spellcheck too.

@Slomoshun

Yes, I'm SURE all of the people that gave it a 1 out of 10 played every bit of what this game had to offer (in the 13 hours since it was released) and graded it fairly.

Creative bankrupcy aside, a game with this pedigree and this much manpower and marketing behind it would have to be technically proficient enough to at least squeak out a 7/10 regardless of people's personal bias against the series and/or the publisher.

To paraphrase Homer Simpson "A 'D' turns into a 'B' much easier. You just got greedy."

@Slomoshun I don't think he was knocking serious gamers' reviews. If you go onto meta critic for MW3 or BF3 users are giving them either a 10 or a 0 for the vast majority. These reviews seem fairly bias to me. Many people knew what they were going to rate both of these games months ago.

@baby sea tuna

Yes ofc some of the review scores are exaggerated. But read the written reviews..

@Slomoshun
Which means nothing. I've learned a long time ago that I'd rather read reviews from professional critics than regular gamers. It's ironic how often the critical community is accused of being biased, yet shit like this prove that they typically can't keep their own biases in check.

@Vegeta has a ps3

I learned to say "screw all reviews." Professional or otherwise. Play a game and decide for yourself. Making decisions based on the opinions of others is just ridiculous.

@Slomoshun

They are exactly as expected. "Same thing, same graphics, blah blah, (reviewer gets on knees to suck off Battlefield 3)" People complain about Joystiq's review text not matching their star ratings, but as far as I'm concerned, if you give a game a 1-3, it had better be BROKEN (something that, incidentally, BF3 was for a lot of people at launch.) If you give a game a zero, however, it had better have busted into your house, stolen all your stuff, killed your pets, and knocked up your wife. Otherwise, you're just rating it out of spite, which is a childish thing to do.

@Vegeta has a ps3

I always thought of video game reviewers or as you say "professional critics" as gamers who went to college and got a degree in some form of english and/or writing.

@NPTran23

Maybe I'm giving them too much credit. They could just have better grammar for all we know.

@Slomoshun

Tmac is that you?

@Slomoshun

Reviews are only accurate when they support your opinion. Particularly when you haven't even played the game in question.

I like your style, dude.

@baby sea tuna honestly BF3 deserves an 8...MOST people had no issues and it's actually a different game than the others. MW3 deserves a 6.5 tops because 90% of it IS rehashed and that's not an exagerration...same engine, same graphics, same physics, they just added slightly more of the same stuff to make it barely any different.....and its bad because of the MP being too luck based with the crappy spawn system. BF3's team deathmatch has the same problem...but thats just one mode..with MW3 its the entire game

@Kougeru

Why do people insist on weighing "innovation" so heavily? If it ain't broke don't fix it.

@Kougeru

Why the fudge are gamers so obsessed with the numbers. All of gaming would be better if Metacritic disappeared forever.

BF3 haters gonna hate :)

/obligatory douchebag comment of the week

@TerryMasters

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3/user-reviews

@Slomoshun You're new here, so allow me to introduce you to this thing called sarcasm:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=sarcasm

@TerryMasters

I'm pretty sure Slomoshun has been on Joystiq for quite a long time. As much as I disagree with just about everything he says... I don't know what being new on a website has anything to do with understanding sarcasm anyways.

i didn't preorder the game or buy it.

i am the 1%

Yup, another year and yet another CoD/MW game released without me jumping on the bandwagon.

@Dan The Man - I didn't either. I'd like to at least play the campaign at some point (if you don't put effort into trying to keep up with the story, the campaigns in the MW games are kind of fun) so I may pick it up if I find it on sale at some point but I'm otherwise completely over the series.

@Mouthsmasher
Bandwagon? People like Call of Duty games because they like the FPS. I guess everyone's going to jump on this Skyrim bandwagon because it's a new immersive RPG and it's a "REAL" game.

Hipster loser.

@Mouthsmasher

I loved CoD4 but I hopped off the bandwagon after playing that abortion called Modern Warfare 2.

@Dan The Man
I didn't either. I have a lot of BF3 to play still and Skyrim will be ruling my console for a while. Yet, at some point I will grab a copy.

My wife and I were laughing this morning wondering how many colleges had to cancel classes for this game today. 11/8/11 = 0 productivity.

@Dan The Man You're also Dan, who always gets his ass whupped and wears a Pink Gi.

@StarcasM feel the power of the Saikyo Arts

Lol u trust user reviews? Cus god knows it's not all bf fanboys.

This series really is turning into the "madden games" of the shooter world. New year, new game, 98% the same as the year before.

Madden sells millions of copies every year and so will every MW. Its sells to the lowest common denominator and it works. No one really looks at the game to see if its any good or not. They just know it says "modern warfare" so they buy it.

@ReadingRambo

Wow. You've created an interesting assessment of two of the most successful franchises in gaming history based solely on YOUR distaste for them.

@Zoot Suit Jedi Grammar Hammer En

If you would like to tell us why MW3 is a must buy over MW2, I'm all ears. Otherwise you just bought a $60 expansion pack. I hope you enjoy the $20 DLC.

@ReadingRambo

I would not go so far as to tell you that you MUST buy anything. What I will say is that this is a smooth-running FPS, with plenty of customization, and a large user base. These elements, in my opinion, make for an enjoyable experience every year.

@Zoot Suit Jedi Grammar Hammer En

I can say that about any modern FPS that didn't suck. Your point is completely invalid. You didn't even make a point. You used some generalities and excuses.

If you want to play death match shooter 3 that has little change from death match shooter 2, then by all means, enjoy. But don't tell the rest of us what a superior product it is, when the superior product came out 2 years ago and all this is, is an expansion on that product...for $60.

@ReadingRambo I've been waiting for MW3 for two years. Treyarch's games are a lot different than IW's games. They may appear to be the same on the surface, but they play much differently.

Some people like sequels. There's only so much you can do with the FPS genre.

@ReadingRambo

" when the superior product came out 2 years ago and all this is, is an expansion on that product...for $60."

It blows my mind that people seem to not understand the purpose of a sequel. Are we really going to sit here and pretend that every sequel created are "game changers," and aren't exactly what you described? Seriously?

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 50 Comments

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Modern Warfare 3 pre-orders near 9 million, analyst says

Reader Comments (95)

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 12:34PM Slomoshun said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 12:36PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 12:42PM Shadow Hog said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 12:43PM baby sea tuna said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 12:49PM xiLeShadow said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 12:55PM Mcmax3000 said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 12:59PM Zoot Suit Jedi Grammar Hammer En said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 1:00PM McPo said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 1:03PM Mr Hett said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 2:07PM Zoot Suit Jedi Grammar Hammer En said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 3:30PM Mcmax3000 said

Posted: Nov 9th 2011 12:16AM Ebase131 said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 12:40PM Diet Kane said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 12:41PM Slomoshun said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 12:43PM baby sea tuna said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 12:46PM Slomoshun said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 12:47PM baby sea tuna said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 12:53PM baby sea tuna said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 12:56PM Uncommon said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 1:00PM Slomoshun said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 1:08PM Vegeta has a ps3 said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 1:13PM Zoot Suit Jedi Grammar Hammer En said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 1:16PM baby sea tuna said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 1:19PM NPTran23 said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 1:20PM NPTran23 said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 2:30PM eat it said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 3:55PM Haizeus said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 4:04PM Kougeru said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 4:16PM Zoot Suit Jedi Grammar Hammer En said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 6:49PM Haizeus said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 12:42PM TerryMasters said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 12:45PM Slomoshun said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 12:47PM TerryMasters said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 5:06PM TraceurRyuk Part III said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 12:43PM Dan The Man said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 12:51PM Mouthsmasher said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 12:58PM Mcmax3000 said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 1:03PM GamingColt said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 1:06PM The Joy of Painting w Bob Ross said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 1:12PM Duke said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 3:23PM StarcasM said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 4:25PM Dan The Man said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 2:19PM 880Cloud088 said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 12:57PM ReadingRambo said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 1:03PM Zoot Suit Jedi Grammar Hammer En said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 1:07PM ReadingRambo said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 1:10PM Zoot Suit Jedi Grammar Hammer En said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 1:14PM ReadingRambo said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 1:14PM Vulgarrr said

Posted: Nov 8th 2011 1:19PM Vegeta has a ps3 said

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

WB conjures up Harry Potter for Kinect this fall

Featured Stories

Stiq Figures, May 14 - 20: He's heating up edition

The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Ballin

Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is a stranger in a strange land

Engadget

TUAW

Massively

WoW