On a cloudy Friday afternoon on Venice Boulevard in West Los Angeles nearly two weeks ago, about 50 people were waiting to buy a video game that wasn't supposed to go on sale for four days.
"Do you have it yet?" an eager customer asked an employee of the store Game Play.
The object of his desire, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, officially launched Nov. 10. But despite the recession that has crimped consumer spending, demand was so high that many stores started selling it as soon as shipments arrived.
"I'm definitely buying fewer games this year, but I knew I was going to buy this one as soon as I could," said Jeff Katayama, 28, a self-described "Call of Duty freak" who drove 20 miles from Monterey Park to pick up the game early.
Thanks to Katayama and millions like him, Modern Warfare 2 generated a record-setting $550 million in sales through Saturday, besting not only the previous mark for a video game but also for movies at the box office. That represents about 8 million units sold, according to estimates by publisher Activision Blizzard Inc. of Santa Monica.
"This provided the entire industry with a shot in the arm," said Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Lazard Capital Markets, who predicted Modern Warfare 2 would ultimately sell 15 million to 20 million units, exceeding $1 billion in revenue.
Call of Duty cost $40 million to $50 million to produce, people close to the project said, about as much as a mid-size film. Including marketing expenses and the cost of producing and distributing discs, the launch budget was $200 million, on par with a summer popcorn movie -- and extremely high for a video game.
Unleashing a Hollywood-scale opening for Modern Warfare 2 has been a priority for Activision Blizzard. The marketing and publicity campaign has featured all of the trappings of a modern movie effort, including ads and trailers designed by top advertising shops, a Twitter feed on which news was strategically disclosed, and a controversial scene involving airport terrorism that leaked onto YouTube and generated much media attention.
"My goal was to create a launch that would compare very favorably to the biggest box offices of all time," Activision Blizzard Chief Executive Bobby Kotick said.
