Activision Reaps Over $500 Million In Day One Destiny Sales
Publisher Activision Blizzard has reason to celebrate today, or more precisely, 500 million reasons to celebrate. Day one sales of its much anticipated Destiny title topped $500 million, which qualifies it as the biggest new video game franchise launch in the history of everything. It's also the highest-selling day one digital console release in history and is on track to become Activision Blizzard's next billion dollar franchise.
"Based on extraordinary audience demand, retail and first party orders worldwide have exceeded $500 million for Destiny," said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. "This industry milestone marks another blockbuster success for our company and demonstrates our unique ability to create some of the most successful entertainment franchises in the world. The success of Destiny, along with the recent introduction of Blizzard Entertainment's Hearthstone, is further validation of our unique capabilities to create great entertainment franchises from the ground up."
While Destiny is set a record in day one sales for a new franchise, other titles have seen more dollars come in during the first 24 hours. Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V raked in $800 million on its first day back in September 2013 en route to $1 billion after just three days, and Call of Duty: Ghosts summoned $1 billion on its first day.
That doesn't take anything away from Destiny, considering this is the first release in the franchise. However, those figures do serve as a measuring stick for future releases, of which there should be many -- former Halo developer Bungie said it wants to tell a story over the next ten years.
"We have more confidence than ever that Destiny will become one of the iconic franchises of this generation, and Activision's next billion dollar brand," said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. "Most importantly, it's just a great game which we can't stop playing. A big thanks to our incredibly talented team and partners who helped make this happen, most importantly, our partners at Bungie."
On a related note, there's still time to score Destiny for free. Microsoft is running a promotion through September 13 (Saturday) in which you can choose choose a free game priced $59.99 or lower with the purchase of any new Xbox One console from a participating retailer. That includes the Xbox One Madden NFL 15 and Forza Motorsport 5 bundles, so in essence you can score two free games.
"Based on extraordinary audience demand, retail and first party orders worldwide have exceeded $500 million for Destiny," said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. "This industry milestone marks another blockbuster success for our company and demonstrates our unique ability to create some of the most successful entertainment franchises in the world. The success of Destiny, along with the recent introduction of Blizzard Entertainment's Hearthstone, is further validation of our unique capabilities to create great entertainment franchises from the ground up."
While Destiny is set a record in day one sales for a new franchise, other titles have seen more dollars come in during the first 24 hours. Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V raked in $800 million on its first day back in September 2013 en route to $1 billion after just three days, and Call of Duty: Ghosts summoned $1 billion on its first day.
That doesn't take anything away from Destiny, considering this is the first release in the franchise. However, those figures do serve as a measuring stick for future releases, of which there should be many -- former Halo developer Bungie said it wants to tell a story over the next ten years.
"We have more confidence than ever that Destiny will become one of the iconic franchises of this generation, and Activision's next billion dollar brand," said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. "Most importantly, it's just a great game which we can't stop playing. A big thanks to our incredibly talented team and partners who helped make this happen, most importantly, our partners at Bungie."
On a related note, there's still time to score Destiny for free. Microsoft is running a promotion through September 13 (Saturday) in which you can choose choose a free game priced $59.99 or lower with the purchase of any new Xbox One console from a participating retailer. That includes the Xbox One Madden NFL 15 and Forza Motorsport 5 bundles, so in essence you can score two free games.
