Exclusive: Modern Warfare 2 Continues to Blow Up All Expectations

During the month of November, DFC Intelligence looked at product usage of Xbox 360 games using the GamerDNA audience as a sample. What quickly became clear was how massive a hit Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has been. We all know that Modern Warfare 2 had a huge launch, but perhaps more impressive has been its staying power. Other games have had big launches but they tend to slow down rather quickly.   

For example, Grand Theft Auto IV, which released in late April 2008, quickly soared to over 25% daily usage among the GamerDNA audience (meaning on a given day 25% of the audience played the game). However, by mid-May usage was down to around 15% and by the end of May it was about 10% of the GamerDNA audience. This is somewhat surprising as GTA IV is known as a product with a great deal of play time.

Of course, one caveat, it should be noted that while this data tracks both single and multiplayer usage, it only does it for consumers that have a connection to Xbox Live. We expect that Modern Warfare 2 had a higher percentage of Xbox Live users versus GTA IV. However, we do not think this had a major impact on the overall usage numbers. Other Xbox 360 first-person shooter products, including Halo 3 and Gears of War 2, showed drop-offs more similar to GTA IV than Modern Warfare 2.