Activision Publishing has announced that since its launch on 8 November, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 surpassed the $1 billion mark in sales.

The latest title in the Call of Duty series managed to achieve this milestone in a mere 16 days, eclipsing the record set in 2009 by the feature film Avatar, which reached the $1 billion milestone in 17 days.

The company stated that whilst 2011 box office revenue is on the decline, down 4% this year at $9.4 billion when compared to $9.8 billion of 2010, the number of people purchasing and participating in gaming is rising. According to Activision there are over 30 million gamers that are members of the Call of Duty community, with this figure exceeding the combined populations of the cities of New York, London, Tokyo, Paris as well as Madrid.

"Engagement of our Call of Duty audience continues to rise around the world" said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. “Call of Duty as an entertainment franchise has made an indelible mark on popular culture and its broad and continued success is further validation that audiences increasingly value interactive experiences over passive experiences.”  

 

In related news Raptr recently announced the winners of its Most Played Games Awards, which awards 2011’s most played games in several categories, as well as a coveted spot for the overall winner. Although Skyrim took top honours, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 racked up the most total playtime for all games in its opening month.