Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II's opening weekend was the best in franchise history

Daniel Sims

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The big picture: A new Call of Duty game is always one of the top-selling releases each year, but the latest entry broke a decade-old franchise record. The numbers represent a positive turnaround for the series after last year's game suffered a disappointing commercial performance.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II made over $800 million in its first three days on the market, more than any other title in the franchise's 19-year history. According to Activision, that performance beats the opening weekend box office numbers of marquee Hollywood films like Top Gun: Maverick and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

The previous sales record-holder in the franchise was 2011's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (the sequel to the original 2009 Modern Warfare 2). Modern Warfare II's success is a turnaround after last year's Call of Duty: Vanguard failed to surpass the sales of 2020's Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

Vanguard contributed to Activision losing 63 million monthly active users throughout 2021. The company hopes that Modern Warfare II and Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 — the sequel to its successful free-to-play spin-off — can bring players back.

One disappointing decision Activision recently made with Modern Warfare II was disabling Steam Family Sharing just three days after launch. Some players expressed dissatisfaction after having bought the $70 title intending to share it with close friends and family members. Others suspect the decision is a move against cheating.

As for future Call of Duty games, new reports this week shut down rumors that a sequel to Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare was in development, aiming for a 2025 release. Activision delayed the entry it intended to launch in 2023, making next year the first in 20 without a new Call of Duty title. The company plans to fill the gap with a paid Modern Warfare II expansion.

The switch could signal a new standard rhythm for the franchise's releases. Activision might begin releasing Call of Duty games every two years instead of annually to ease their notoriously turbulent production cycles, meaning there won't be a new game in 2025.

Whatever happens, Microsoft promised that if its deal to buy Activision closes, future entries will still release on PlayStation for the foreseeable future. Microsoft has stated this multiple times in response to Sony's alarm over the acquisition, which faces scrutiny from UK, US, and EU regulators.

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Haven't played it yet ... sold my gaming PC (waiting to see the reviews of the B760 boards and locked cpu's this January) but from the streams I've seen on this game it looks great minus a few bugs that are being worked on atm. Hopefully the new CoD Warzone is a hit.
 
Another year... and another Call of duty. I've not bought one since 2005. Despite the profits the franchise is destroyed IMHO.
 
All these other companies need to start making the same game and then reusing the name from their older version, they could all make a killing!

I can think of at least 3 or 4 titles I'd pay to have upgraded graphics and QOL improvements.
 
The fact that a remake of a near 15 year old game makes THIS kind of cash is the EXACT reason "gamers" should be treated with contempt. Nearly a billion, on yet another cookie cutter game that is a derivative of itself, with content cut out so you can spend even more money. Said gamers will scream about the alleged activision sex dungeons and frat culture claims straight out of some derivative stephen king novel before shoveling another chunk of their paycheck into activision's maw.
 
For those interested a new Hot Fix 526.61 Geforce Driver was just released to get rid of the bug issue with the recently released previous driver.
 
It made a billion dollars cause of kids n consoles. At some point Activision need to start figuring out how to deal with pc. Give pc back their version or remove pc altogether. Something has gotta give. If Warzone 2 gets filled with cheaters, itll be a disaster.
The false bans that IW said werent false bans now appear to be well, false bans. They are actively looking at what could be causing the issue. They swear nothing was wrong in the beta now the same thing happening with the release. Either someone lied or didnt bother checking. Neither help with trust.
 
Yes, I knew, thanks. But this is not a game anymore. It's just a commercial product and that's it. It's all about money.
It always was. The entire gaming industry is now. The good old days are dead.
Indie devs are the only ones fighting back for the most part.
 
A kid I work with (he's a kid to me, only 23 years old) - I asked him if he got the new CoD game and he said he did (he's part of the problem, I think he needs to be flogged! /jk). I know he's played the other CoD games, so I figured he probably got this one and I was right.

He said he wish he didn't because he doesn't really like it and he said it's not as good as the original Modern Warfare games. He said the single player campaign feels like it's just a way to introduce you to the maps that'll be used for multiplayer. He said the single player campaign on the original Modern Warfare 1 & 2 were better.
 
It's the best multiplayer FPS at the moment imo thanks to Dice completely destroying the Battlefield series. I wish they would hurry up and put out the hardcore mode / Tier 1 mode though because I'm just not a fan of bullet sponges and *****s running around with a knife killing with a single swipe.
My only concern is that they will put out a bunch of cheesy skins for sale and ruin the look of the game.
 
The fact that a remake of a near 15 year old game makes THIS kind of cash is the EXACT reason "gamers" should be treated with contempt.
It's not a remake...at least not the multiplayer. I don't play or care about the single player so I can't speak on that. But so far as I know the maps are all new.
 
It's the best multiplayer FPS at the moment imo thanks to Dice completely destroying the Battlefield series. I wish they would hurry up and put out the hardcore mode / Tier 1 mode though because I'm just not a fan of bullet sponges and *****s running around with a knife killing with a single swipe.
My only concern is that they will put out a bunch of cheesy skins for sale and ruin the look of the game.
You know, Enlisted is a thing, it's a great game where you get to play as an entire squad and tactics play a role.

Halo infinite is bereft of content, but its free to play, so its still worth a few weekends.

The older CoDs and battlefields didnt go anywhere, we're not at the level (yet) where the release of a new game means the old game no longer exists (looks at overwatch 2 and sweats).

I really fail to see how its the "best" FPS out there when there are so many better alternatives. "new" doesnt mean "good", and so far every "new" shooter out there is a mere skeleton of what it should be.
 
You know, Enlisted is a thing, it's a great game where you get to play as an entire squad and tactics play a role.

Halo infinite is bereft of content, but its free to play, so its still worth a few weekends.

The older CoDs and battlefields didnt go anywhere, we're not at the level (yet) where the release of a new game means the old game no longer exists (looks at overwatch 2 and sweats).

I really fail to see how its the "best" FPS out there when there are so many better alternatives. "new" doesnt mean "good", and so far every "new" shooter out there is a mere skeleton of what it should be.
I don't think I have ever heard of Enlisted to be honest. Looks like WW2 which is unfortunate imo. I'm not a big fan of going back in time but I may check it out.
As much as I loved the original Halo in the day I played the latest and just found it to be pretty terrible.
The battlefield games of yesterday are still around but they don't seem to have the player base and I have played them into the ground.
I never suggested new was better because it was new. The new COD is imo a really good game with some balance issues. Shotguns (from a distance) and knives are way overpowered and it drives me crazy. I also dislike having to shoot someone 5 times. I think Warzone is done really well too.
I'm not sure I understand the idea of it being a skeleton of what it should be.
 
Skelton reference has to do with it missing several features at launch. MW19 had more features at launch. Some features will be coming on Nov. 16th.
Warzone 2 may be better, we hope. Going to attract a lot of players.
 
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