Call of Duty: Black Ops still outpacing Modern Warfare 2 on pre-orders

October 7, 2010 By Ryan Fleming

GameStop has announced that Black Ops is ahead of the pace set for pre-orders by its record-setting predecessor.

Modern Warfare 2 was a behemoth of a video game. With over a billion dollars in sales within three months, a record shattering number of games sold on the opening day and even more sales records for the expansions that came out months later, it set the bar so high in terms of money generated that it is hard to imagine that its predecessor might actually surpass it. But according to GameInformer.com, which is part of retailer GameStop’s network, Black Ops is on track to do just that.

Back in July, we heard the same thing, but there was a difference. At the time, it was not all that surprising to hear that the hardcore fans who are passionate about the Modern Warfare games — and by extension the Call of Duty games — were anxiously awaiting a new version. After all, for as impressive a game as Modern Warfare 2 is, there were not all that many differences between it and the original Modern Warfare. With Black Ops it looks like Treyarch took everything that worked in Modern Warfare 2, bringing back the same gameplay mechanics including the types of weapons, and put it in a new time period (that was thankfully not World War II), and which essentially just made the game fresh again.

Even if you are not a fan of the series, it is good news for the industry as a whole, after months of disappointing software sales.

“GameStop is tracking to all-time, record reservations on Call of Duty: Black Ops,” Bob McKenzie, senior vice president of merchandising for GameStop said in a press release. “We are ahead of where we were with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 last year, which previously set the industry standard.”

The fact that the pre-orders continue to come in for Black Ops is significant. The fact that it is outpacing one of the best selling games of all-time and doing it mere weeks after the monster release of Halo: Reach is impressive to say the least. So much for all the threats to boycott Call of Duty following the Infinity Ward drama.

Call of Duty: Black Ops releases on November 9.

Showing 11 comments

donovan at 11:19am 8th December 2010 black oups was grat by miles 300000
zxdgfdfsgfgdfg at 11:10pm 4th November 2010 Halo Reach was Beating this Game My over 1,000,000 Pre-Orders But Halo Reach Got released so Now B.O is Winning..
LostMemory at 11:52am 3rd November 2010 This game is going to be awesome, I saw the demo, and played it, I am amazed by the work Treyarch has done. This time when you progress through the ranks you do not unlock weapons and perks, you have to use money from the game to aquire the perk, or weapon of your choise. I personally think this game is going to be part of the #1 games in the world. So people like Sean, and Max,don't hate on the COD series, don't boycott things that you hate, that is just sad, hate it, don't play it, simple as it can be, even a retarded kid would know that (not being offensive to the mentally challanged children and adults.) The creators of these games will not end the series of Call of Duty, so again, stop the hate of these games, and just leave them alone, no one has forced you to play the game. P.S. JosephGranja, good one! You go and own!
josephgranja at 9:24am 1st November 2010 awesome headshot biatch you just got own
jordan at 7:58am 20th October 2010 its going to be a great game dont hate!
sean at 8:09am 19th October 2010 ugh. stfu. i'm boycotting. waaaah. nobody cares you're not buying it. go play medal of honor for the 1000th time over. black ops is made by the same folks who made world at war so there's not going to be 850,000 places to sit and wait for someone to walk by on each map. there's not supposed to be "noob tubes", and there's supposedly bringing zombies back.
Max at 2:04pm 17th October 2010 All bs. It's just a hype that this game is going to be like "omg". I saw the trailer and I'm not impressed. Further more yeah, I'm one of those that will be boycotting COD series. Nothing since COD4 came out that was worth purchasing. When they'll make a game for PC - then I'll buy it. I don't buy console coverts games. I got tricked once- never again.
1. Anonymous at 11:18pm 1st November 2010 Call of Duty will never die. watch your grandchildren will be playing Call of Duty:Martian Warfare. Activision knows Call of Duty sells millions and will not let the series go. As long as this series sells, there will be more COD like or not. So you STFU.
2. Lost Memory at 11:59am 3rd November 2010 I agree with who ever the annonymus person is, it will not die, you are just hating on the series, don't like it don't boycott for just senseless idiotic reasons. Many love this game which will continue until sales go way down, these game, in fact has 1 million and counting reservations for a copy. Treyarch had made outstanding work on this Call of Duty: Black Ops. This game will continue to live on till which Anonymous said, "watch your grandchildren will be playing 'Call of Duty: Martian Warfare'"
Piemaster1337 at 5:23am 8th October 2010 soooo..... how many pre-orders are there set? yes. i think that would be helpful to the point of the article
1. Ryan Fleming at 8:35am 8th October 2010 Trust me, I would like to know too, but GameStop has not released that info and probably won't for business reasons.