Call of Duty: Black Ops III Nets a Half Billion Dollar Opening Weekend

Videogames are big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big they are. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts compared to the size of the games industry.

To prove this point, Activision released details of the money made for the opening weekend of their new AAA release, Call of Duty: Black Ops III. In its first three days, the blockbuster title exceeded $550 million in sell-through worldwide, according to Activision estimates. The opening weekend haul is the biggest entertainment launch of 2015, including theatrical box office, music and book launches.

To give some context to the figure, current opening weekend movie record holder, Jurassic World, pulled in $208.8 million so the latest Call of Duty franchise entry has more than doubled it's closest rival from Hollywood. To put it in further context, the real world Trident nuclear submarine upgrade programme is set to cost $500billion dollars so Activision's bank account rivals that of the real world Military they are portraying in the game!

Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, issued a statement about the news:

"The Call of Duty: Black Ops III launch is bigger than any game, any movie, or any entertainment launch this year. But more importantly, our fans are engaging more deeply with the franchise than ever before. In fact, so far, people are playing Black Ops III for more hours per player than any Call of Duty game on record. Call of Duty is more than a game, it's a year round passion for a growing base of millions of fans and it's only gaining momentum."