'Modern Warfare 3' tops $1 bil in 16 days

Activision's "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" has joined the billion dollar club -- after just 16 days on store shelves, setting yet another entertainment industry record. James Cameron's "Avatar" was the previous record holder for a property to hit the $1 billion sales mark. It took a day longer than the action/shooter video game to achieve that, however. ("Black Ops," the previous game in the "Call of Duty" series, took six weeks to hit the number.) "Engagement of our 'Call of Duty' audience continues to rise around the world," said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. "'Call of Duty' as an entertainment franchise has made an indelible mark on popular culture and its broad and continued success is further validation that audiences increasingly value interactive experiences over passive experiences." The $1 billion record is the second major sales kudo for the title. "Modern Warfare 3" previously set the industry record for the biggest product launch of all time by taking in $400 million in the first 24 hours. (It had previously set the bar for that record with the previous two "Call of Duty" installments.) Analysts expect "Modern Warfare 3" to sell 18 million-19 million units by the end of the calendar year, generating roughly $1.2 billion in revenue. The overwhelming success of the game is a vindication for the publisher. "Modern Warfare 3" is the first title from the company's Infinity Ward division since the abrupt dismissal of studio heads and series creators Jason West and Vince Zampella. Activision alleged they were meeting with competitor Electronic Arts about starting a new development studio. West and Zampella deny that accusation. Both parties are suing the other, with the cases expected to go to trial next year. West and Zampella have since launched a new company -- Respawn Entertainment -- and several key members of the Infinity Ward team have defected to it. Given the drama, "Modern Warfare 3" was a game under the microscope. "Every year, new people are drawn into 'Call of Duty'," said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. "And while the franchise continues to set records, our fans still seem to want more." That demand is helping drive subscriptions for "Call of Duty: Elite," a subscription service for players that provides access to all downloadable content for the game as well as tournament, video content and social network functionality for players. To date, more than 6 million people have registered for the service. Within six days of its launch, it had topped 1 million paying customers. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com