Keeping games in play

On a cloudy Friday afternoon in West Los Angeles, nearly three weeks ago, about 50 people were waiting to buy a video game that was not supposed to go on sale for four days.

"Do you have it yet?," an eager customer asked an employee of the store.

The object of his desire, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, officially launched the following Tuesday, but demand was so high many stores started selling it as soon as shipments arrived.

"I'm definitely buying fewer games this year, but I knew I was going to buy this one as soon as I could," said Jeff Katayama (28).

The self-described "Call of Duty freak" drove 32km to pick up the game early.

Thanks to Mr Katayama and millions like him, Modern Warfare 2 generated a record-setting $US550 million ($NZ754 million) in sales in its first week, besting not only the previous mark for a video game, but for movies at the box office as well.

That represented approximately 8 million units sold, according to estimates by Santa Monica-based publisher Activision Blizzard.

"This provided the entire industry with a shot in the arm," Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Lazard Capital Markets, said.

He predicted Modern Warfare 2 would ultimately sell 15 million to 20 million units, which equated to about $US1 billion in sales.

Modern Warfare 2 cost between $US40 million and $US50 million to produce, according to people close to the project - about as much as a mid-size film.

Including marketing expenses and the cost of producing and distributing discs, the total launch budget was $US200 million, on a par with a summer popcorn movie - and extremely high for a video game.

Unleashing a huge, Hollywood-scale opening for Modern Warfare 2 has been a top priority for Activision Blizzard.

The marketing and publicity campaign has featured all of the trappings of a modern movie effort including advertisements and trailers designed by top advertising shops, a Twitter feed on which news was strategically disclosed, and a controversial scene involving airport terrorism that leaked on to YouTube and generated hordes of media attention.

"My goal was to create a launch that would compare very favourably to the biggest box offices of all time," Activision Blizzard chief executive Bobby Kotick said.

Theatrical box office and video games sales are not equivalent, since movie tickets are significantly cheaper and are followed by markets that generate additional revenue, such as DVD and pay television.

Nonetheless, that top video game launches now exceed the biggest film debuts is a further signal that the two businesses are coming to rival each other in popularity.

Modern Warfare 2 comes at a propitious time for Activision and the video game industry.