Modern Warfare 2 Launches The Video Game Holiday Season

Modern Warfare 2 launched today, with gamers lining up at midnight to buy the game.  It's already seen blockbuster sales, and several people are saying that Modern Warfare 2 could be the most successful launch ever. 

Activision is hoping that their Modern Warfare 2 can turn the industry on its ear.  The hype from both Activision and retailers is strong.  On November 5, Activision had an earnings call, where Activision's leadership outlined a profit of $15 million, versus losing money the year before.  Therefore, Activision is in a strong place now, and with one of the most intense launches of a game EVER, spending close to $200 million for promotions and licensing (according to CEO Bobby Kotick), Activision expects Modern Warfare 2 to perform quite well at retail.  In fact, Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan expects sales of 12 million for Modern Warfare 2 by Christmas.

That's a windfall of 1/2 a billion dollars.

Retailers are positively giddy:  "We expect it could be the biggest game of all time."   These are the words of Tony Bartel, marketing VP for GameStop, whose seen more pre-orders for Modern Warfare 2 than any other game they've ever sold.

But this game launch has come with some hitches.  Gamers that pre-ordered the game via Steam will not be able to play until the 12th.  Meanwhile, GameStop broke the street date - essentially making the launch date less of an event and more of a suggestion.

Citing other stores breaking the street date for Modern Warfare 2, GameStop corporate has stated that in certain regions they broke the November 10th street date for Modern Warfare 2.  This move may be unprecidented; it certainly hasn't happened at GameStop in recent memory.  Several retailers had broken the Modern Warfare 2 street date for the game in the North East area of the country (New York), and in the midwest (Ohio). 

Activision's spokespeople were not pleased:  "Activision has not given any retailer permission to sell Modern Warfare 2 prior to the Nov. 10 street date.  The company fully supports the Nov.10 street date."   But was the early sale of the game really a bad decision?  Probably not.  There's no question that the games industry is suffering through a bad year.  According to the NPD Group which measures US sales for the industry, sales of games are off of last year's pace by 13%.  

During an earnings call Activision's President, Mike Griffith, had the following to say:

"We think one of the problems with our PC (releases) on this title in the past is that it has not been as friendly a consumer experience in terms of matchmaking and online play as the consoles have allowed it to be.  Our solution here improves that consumer experience overall by a significant margin. We think the benefits we will see are going to far outweigh any of the negatives that seem to be surfacing."

Despite some complaints, it's looking like Modern Warfare 2 could positively REDEFINE blockbuster sales for the game industry.

Some online retailers have noted that they will not be selling Modern Warfare 2 for the PC, because it includes Valve's SteamWorks system (their online store).  Direct 2 Drive earlier this week announced their decision not to sell the game, along with GamersGate and Impulse.

Those launch hitches aside, the game has released to incredible praise:  Modern Warfare 2 got a 96 on Metacritic and 95 on GameRankings. 

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