"Call of Duty" sets sales records

AUSTIN (KXAN/AP) - The video game "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" is blasting its way into entertainment history.

Released two weeks ago, "Call of Duty" earned $550-million in UK and American sales in five days, shattering the previous opening earnings of the game "Grand Theft Auto" and the film "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire".

Austin's Aspyr Media helped develop the "Call to Duty" game line.  "Well the last one was really good and this is the next one, it's even bigger and better," said Elizabeth Howard, a Development Manager with Aspyr Media. "It really has a foundation, it's the sixth or seventh in the series, so it's a brand."

Activision Blizzard Inc., which released the game Nov. 10, didn't say how many units it has shipped. But Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian estimates the company sold between 8.5 million and 9 million copies.

In its first 24 hours on sale, "Call of Duty" made $310 million in North America and the United Kingdom alone, while "Grand Theft Auto" made that same amount worldwide.

It was also far above the record $155 million opening weekend for the Batman movie "The Dark Knight" last year.

The game, which sells for $60, runs on Windows-based computers, Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3.

The conception, art design, animation and programming of a game can take 100 workers four to five years to create at a cost of tens of milliions of dollars.

The new game impressed Howard. "Every four to six years we get new hardware so with Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 was a new opportunity for graphics and abilities of games, and once they're released it takes a couple of years for people to really utilize their capabilities and that's why you're seeing a lot of great stuff now."

"Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2" may be a dying breed of console game. Battered by the recession and facing new technologies, the gaming industry is reverting to laptops and smartphones, the new buzzword is "digital".

"I think what we're going to see is a big shift to on-line," said Howard. "I don't know how fast that is going to happen in the console space, but in the PC and Mac space where we're big supporters, things are going digital and less retail."

The weak economy has hit video game companies later than many other sectors because the industry had been thought by some investors to be recession-proof. Shares of both Activision and rival Electronic Arts Inc. have underperformed the S&P 500 since March. Take-Two's shares, meanwhile, have been volatile — but they are trading roughly at the same level as they were a year ago.