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Modern Warfare 2 DLC Could Generate $140 Million

That's more than most full games make at all

Nov 26, 2009 08:06 GMT  ·  By
You could stick MW2 on anything and it would become a best seller
   You could stick MW2 on anything and it would become a best seller

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 already proved that it was not only a successful title, but also an incredibly well-selling one. The game had already generated $550 million for its publisher, Activision, and this was the last time it finished counting the money, last week. Since then, the title most likely sold a whole lot more copies and made even more money. The sales will most likely drop from here on out significantly, mostly because the market is already full with people that have already bought it and no one is that fanatic about buying the game twice, just for the love of Activision.

But that doesn't mean that the title won't be making more buckets of money for the company. Every game employs some methods to expand its lifetime, and MW2 will most likely do the same. Priced DLCs are the keywords here, and the title is bound to have plenty of them. If you're wondering just how successful these will be, then learn that they'll most likely outperform other full games entirely. According to Ben Schachter, an analyst for Broadpoint AmTech, additional MW2 content could generate anything up to $140 million in revenues.

"As with the last two CoD titles, the game itself should maintain its $60 launch price until the next iteration (due in large part to the value of its online gameplay)," Schachter said. "But Activision will also benefit significantly from the high-margin DLC potential enabled by the packaged product's success. We estimate that Activision will generate at least $100mil-$140mil in gross revenue from Call of Duty DLC in 2010."

Schachter also predicts that the game will offer more than just your run-of-the-mill map-packs. "Though the company has not announced anything, we would not be surprised to see the content expand significantly beyond simple map packs to include new missions, modes of play, and in-game items (who wouldn't pay for a night-time desert assault mission, a 2x2 capture the flag mode, or a very, very sharp bowie knife?)," he added. "The point is that Call of Duty's fan base will pay for additional content, and we expect Activision's Infinity Ward to monetize that throughout 2010."