'Modern Warfare 2' Breaks Series Sales Records Despite Mixed Reception

The new king of the "Call of Duty" franchise has been crowned after "Modern Warfare 2" broke every record that any of the previous titles in the long-running series managed to achieve.

The sequel to the 2019 "Modern Warfare" reboot earned over $800M in retail sales in just three days, as per Charlie Intel, making it the fastest-selling "Call of Duty" game since the release of the original trilogy's "Modern Warfare 3" back in 2011, which earned around $775M in five days, according to Forbes.

It's worth noting that "Modern Warfare 2" has a $70 price tag compared to its predecessors following a new pricing convention in the AAA gaming market. While this naturally gives the game's sales an unfair advantage, its total player count on Steam paints a decent picture of just how many players are interested in it.

These numbers translate to roughly several million copies sold worldwide, not accounting for the sales of various game editions.

Since its release, "Modern Warfare 2" has reached a peak concurrent player count of 262,875 and averages around 120K players as of writing. This does not include players from Battle.Net or anyone playing on Xbox and PlayStation consoles.

The sales figures don't necessarily reflect the player base's reception of the game at large.

Overall, it was met with mixed reviews; some critics sang praises about the campaign's throwbacks to original "Call of Duty" titles while maintaining the same level of grounded spectacle, while others said it felt lackluster. Interestingly, reviewers agreed that "Modern Warfare 2" has some of the most satisfying shooting mechanics in the series.

Fans have more-or-less mimicked the same sentiments stated above, but many have been very particular with the map design for the multiplayer modes. Players have complained about the maps being similar to the 2019's "Modern Warfare," which encouraged slower playstyles and camping. One map, in particular, instantly became notorious due to its abundance of exploding cars.

Players on Steam have also reported glaring technical issues such as constant crashing and performance problems with decent hardware. Apart from this, fans have been enjoying the moment-to-moment multiplayer gameplay the series is known for.