A popular war, this

Video game Modern Warfare 2 is one of the biggest entertainment releases in recent time.

Activision Blizzard Inc., the world’s largest video game publisher, sold a record 4.7 million copies of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on its first day in North America and the UK, taking in $310 million.

The title, released November 10 worldwide, was available at 10,000 retail locations in the US, the Santa Monica, California-based company said in a statement. The results topped the previous first-day sales record held by Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.’s Grand Theft Auto IV, which sold 3.6 million copies globally for $310 million last year. Activision also exceeded the $204 million five-day US box office record for a Hollywood movie release set last year by Time Warner Inc.’s Dark Knight.

“It’s an absolutely unbelievable number,” said Mike Hickey, an analyst at Janco Partners Inc. in Greenwood Village, Colorado, who has a “buy” rating on the shares and doesn’t own any. “This has been called the biggest entertainment release of all time for the last six months.”

Rival publishers Electronic Arts Inc., Ubisoft Entertainment SA and Take-Two Interactive changed their release schedules to avoid competing with Modern Warfare, said Todd Mitchell, an analyst with Kaufman Bros. LP.

“You didn’t want to get in the way,” said New York-based Mitchell, who recommends investors buy the shares and doesn’t own any.

Activision Chief Executive Officer Bobby Kotick said last week that the game could be the biggest entertainment release of the year. “They set the bar very high for themselves and they just jumped over it,” Mitchell said. “To muster an event like this is Herculean.”

The game, which retails for $59.99, follows the first Modern Warfare, released in November 2007. The original version of the “first-person shooter” title sold more than 14 million copies worldwide, according to Activision. GameStop Inc., the world’s largest game retailer, said orders for Modern Warfare 2 set a company record.

US video game sales have fallen 13 per cent this year through September, according to NPD Group Inc, a researcher based in Port Washington, New York. October sales, to be released today, will be down 9 per cent compared to last year, before rising double-digits this month in part because of Modern Warfare, according to Michael Pachter, ananalyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities.