New York: The television advertisement for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, a new video game from Activision Blizzard, features the actors Jonah Hill and Sam Worthington shooting their way through a landscape of urban destruction.
Playing to a celebrity-obsessed culture where video games are increasingly mainstream, the widely viewed clip helped propel the title to record sales of $400 million (Dh1.46 billion) on its first day.
The showy Modern Warfare 3 advert also comes at a time when top-tier video game releases are bigger than Hollywood blockbusters, and game companies are looking to produce more TV content that can be viewed by online gamers.
Activision chief executive Bobby Kotick said the first-person shooter category still had room to grow.
"When you think of great game concepts, I think unleashing your inner soldier is a great one," he said.
The company reported strong quarterly earnings last month and raised its earnings forecast, but its shares have fallen more than ten per cent since then.
The Modern Warfare 3 commercial was part of an unprecedented blitz of video game marketing. Electronic Arts spent heavily promoting Battlefield 3 as did Bethesda Game Studios on Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Activision Blizzard's World of Warcraft ran adverts featuring actor Chuck Norris.
"The crowded release schedule triggered competitive behaviour, with more marketing spending than in past Novembers," said Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush. "We think the huge marketing push from publishers and a competitive retail climate could help sales throughout December." Activision has partnered with Tony and Ridley Scott, the film directors, to create a TV programme called Friday Night Fights featuring highlights of Modern Warfare 3 game play. The show will be available for viewing on the Call of Duty Elite network, a new $50-a-year online social network.
High demand
The Elite network, which Activision launched last month, stumbled out of the gate due to glitches brought on by high demand. But more than one million users signed up in the first week, giving Activision a handsome new revenue stream.
"This is an important evolution of our medium," said Kotick, suggesting Activision would soon release more TV-style programming. "It would be logical to think you could produce [scripted content] you could watch in the games."
One worry for analysts is Activision does not yet have any major games on Facebook, while its main rival, Electronic Arts, has two of the top ten by users. Nor has Activision acquired any major social gaming companies.
Zynga, the largest social gaming company, is preparing to go public. Kotick said Activision was investing in the Facebook platform but had nothing to announce for now.
— Financial Times
