Xbox Gaming in South Africa

We can't say that we're surprised, but that doesn't make it any less impressive. Yes, the Call of Duty franchise has once again set a string of new records with its latest release, with publisher Activision announcing that Modern Warfare 3 has become the biggest entertainment launch ever, selling 6.5 million units in North America and the United Kingdom in the first 24 hours alone, accounting for a whopping $400 million in sales.

This isn't the first time the Call of Duty franchise has secured the title of "biggest entertainment launch ever", with both previous titles, Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010) and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009), managing the same feat, but at a sell-through record of only $360 million and $310 million, respectively, according to Charttrack and retail customer sell-through information.

"Other than Call of Duty, there has never been another entertainment franchise that has set opening day records three years in a row. 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," said Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard, presumably kicking back next to his Scrooge McDuck Money Bin.

Elsewhere, more records were broken, including a new peak concurrency record on Xbox LIVE thanks to the total number of gamers playing simultaneously on the service, according to Microsoft.

Don't be surprised to hear that even more records have been broken in the coming weeks, and if the current Metacritic score of 89 is anything to go on, it's well deserved.