'Modern Warfare 3' Sells 6.5M Copies in First Day to Break Launch Record

Activision claims to have sold 6.5 million copies of "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" in 24 hours, IGN reported Friday.

The game yielded $400 million in sales in one day in the US and the UK, according to ChartTrack estimates, beating "Black Ops" by $40 million and "Modern Warfare 2" by $90 million.

Both those games set the previous records for day-one sales.

The more than $400 million in sales does not take into account sales in continental Europe, Australia and the rest of world.

"Life-to-date sales for the 'Call of Duty' franchise exceed worldwide theatrical box office for 'Star Wars' and 'Lord of the Rings,' two of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time," Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said.

"Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" has done well critically, picking up a score of 9.0 from IGN and high scores from many other outlets, but has suffered a fan backlash that has seen its Metacritic user score drop as low as 1.7 over the past few days.