Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 sells a bundle

By Ben Hurst on Nov 13, 09 02:02 PM

A controversial video game broke sales records on its opening day to make it the biggest entertainment launch in history, according to its publisher.

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 sold 4.7 million copies in the UK and US alone within 24 hours of its launch on Tuesday, generating a revenue of £186 million, Activision said.

US-based Activision chief executive Mike Griffith said: "The Call Of Duty franchise has become a cultural phenomenon, showing the power of video games as an entertainment medium.

"The shattering of these entertainment records is a testament to the compelling, cinematic and uniquely engaging experience that the Call Of Duty brand delivers.

"Modern Warfare 2 has taken interactive experience to unprecedented heights, setting a new standard for entertainment."

Crowds gathered in London's Leicester Square for a "premiere" on Monday night, complete with tanks and military costumes, ahead of the epic hitting the shelves at midnight.
Games fans may have been snapping up the £55 discs but the blockbuster's content has come under attack from politicians.

Described in press material as featuring "gripping and heart-racing action as players face off against a new threat dedicated to bringing the world to the brink of collapse", the game involves hunting down a terrorist and allows players to plot attacks against civilians.

Modern Warfare 2, developed by US company Infinity Ward, is rated as mature for its "blood, drug reference, intense violence and language".

Labour MP Keith Vaz called for action to ensure the 18-certificate game did not end up in the hands of children, while fellow Labour former digital minister Tom Watson said it would be better to support the UK's video gaming industry.

Mr Vaz, the home affairs select committee chairman, told MPs: "It contains such scenes of brutality that even the manufacturers have put in warnings within the game telling people how they can skip particular scenes."

He asked what steps ministers were taking to ensure that violent games did not fall into the hands of children and young people.

"It's not about censorship, it's about protecting our children," he added.

Junior culture minister Sion Simon said the clearest recommendation of the Byron review - which last year looked into the risks faced by children from inappropriate video games - was that content suitable for adults should be labelled and sold as such.

"The game you refer to is a certificate 18 game," he said.

"It should not be sold to children and the Government's job is to make sure that adults... can get what adults should be able to and children are not in danger of being subjected to adult content."
Mr Watson told MPs: "It carries a content warning, it is an 18+ game.

"It would be better for Members of this House to support the many thousands of games designers and coders and the many millions of games users, rather than collaborating with the Daily Mail to create moral panic over the use of video games."