Activision: Destiny "most successful new video game franchise launch ever"
But publisher declines to say how many copies have been sold.
Activision reportedly spent an incredible $500m getting the Destiny franchise off the ground. Now the game has been out for a day, has it already made its money back?
Activision said this afternoon that it has sold in more than $500m of Destiny worldwide as of day one. When it says "sold in", it means copies of the game to shops and first parties - Microsoft and Sony - not "sold through" to customers.
Activision Blizzard did not reveal how many copies were sold, however, which makes it hard to gauge exactly how successful it has been. Still, $500m is an impressive figure, one Activision said today means Destiny, made by Halo developer Bungie, is well on its way to becoming the company's next billion dollar franchise.
It has also claimed the title of the most successful new video game franchise launch of all time, and said Destiny is the highest-selling day one digital console release in history. Sounds like a lot of people bought the game through the Xbox Store and the PlayStation Store.
By comparison, earlier this year Ubisoft said Watch Dogs was the best-selling new IP in video game history with four million copies sold in the first week on the market.
"Based on extraordinary audience demand, retail and first party orders worldwide have exceeded $500 million for Destiny," Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick said.
"This industry milestone marks another blockbuster success for our company and demonstrates our unique ability to create some of the most successful entertainment franchises in the world. The success of Destiny, along with the recent introduction of Blizzard Entertainment's Hearthstone, is further validation of our unique capabilities to create great entertainment franchises from the ground up."
Destiny launched for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One and Xbox 360 at over 11,000 midnight openings around the world. It is the first step in a decade-long deal for Bungie and Activision, who plan to release multiple games in the franchise over the next 10 years.
"Since the beginning, we've been confident that our investment and belief in Destiny would pay off. But not many people believed we'd be able to say it did so on day one," said Activision Publishing boss Eric Hirshberg.
"Destiny is officially the biggest new franchise launch in our industry's history. It's also the highest-selling day one digital console release in history. We have more confidence than ever that Destiny will become one of the iconic franchises of this generation and Activision's next billion dollar brand.
"Most importantly, it's just a great game which we can't stop playing. A big thanks to our incredibly talented team and partners who helped make this happen; most importantly, our partners at Bungie."