'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2' Breaks Record

RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

And our last word in business today is victory.

(Soundbite of video game, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2")

MONTAGNE: And the new combat video game "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" has blasted away previous entertainment records. The game's publisher, Activision, says it's raked in more than $550 million in the first week of sales. That's more than last year's top selling video game, "Grand Theft Auto," more than the biggest box office-busting Harry Potter movie. Industry analyst Michael Pachter said the game is appealing, but there's more to it than that.

Mr. MICHAEL PACHTER (Video Game Industry Analyst): I think that Activision set out to outsell "Grand Theft Auto" and so they promoted it enough to make sure that they did so.

MONTAGNE: It wasn't just marketing dollars. Pachter says Activision also used a clever tactic.

Mr. PACHTER: They created the perception among retailers that the game would be in short supply. So they said to retailers, you know, we are not going to be able to make more than let's just say eight or 10 million copies of this game in the first few weeks, and so if you want to get your fair share, you better show us pre-orders. And so for the first time ever I saw Walmart promoting pre-orders. Amazon promoted them heavily.

MONTAGNE: And the frenzy helped the video game maker sell by one estimate nearly nine million copies in that one week alone. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.