Activision reveals that Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 made $550 million in three days on sale and that the game outsold Advanced Warfare and Ghosts.

For several years, the Call of Duty franchise's sales have been in decline. Despite Activision's hopes that last year's Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare would sell better than Call of Duty: Ghosts, the game actually sold fewer copies than Ghosts and it became the third Call of Duty title in a row to sell less copies than the game before it. But that doesn't mean that the first person shooting juggernaut is down and out though, as, proving that it's still a serious money-maker for Activision, the publisher has now revealed that Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 made $550 million in just three days on sale.

Today, Activision stated that not only did Black Ops 3 rake in over half a billion dollars in global revenue, but that the game is also the "biggest entertainment launch of the year" and that its revenue was bigger than any other game, movie, or any other form of entertainment. However, what's unclear is whether or not that half a billion dollar figure includes hardware sales as well, with the Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 PS4 bundle also being available. Halo 5: Guardians recently made $400 million using the same software + hardware metric so it's entirely possible that Activision has followed suit.

Other positives of Call of Duty: Black Ops 3's launch is the fact that downloaded copies of the game increased by almost 100% on current gen consoles, compared to Advanced Warfare and Sony also said that the game also holds the record for best-selling (full) digital game (in terms of units sold in its first day) in PS4 history. While that may sound oddly specific, Sony will certainly be happy as the company has a Black Ops 3 DLC exclusivity deal in place.

Additionally, Activision says that Black Ops 3 has set a new record for the level of "engagement" per player with people playing the game for longer than they have previous Call of Duty titles – over 75 million hours online have been logged, says the publisher. And on top of this, streaming service Twitch has revealed that the game is the most streamed game of any title that launched this year, though with Fallout 4 being released this week that could soon change.

These stats are impressive and Activision notes that Black Ops 3's total worldwide sales "rose significantly" over Advanced Warfare and Ghosts' sales, but can this success be sustained next year or even the year after that? It's currently too early to say but fans will be eager to see how next year's Call of Duty title will keep them interested.