Black Ops poised to set preorder record

Last year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was one of the most hugely successful games of all time. It raked in over $1 billion at retail, helped the franchise move 20 million downloadable content map packs, and continues to be a top-played game online. However, the next Call of Duty title, due out next month, might set new records.

According to GameStop, Call of Duty: Black Ops is poised to surpass Modern Warfare 2’s tallies and break the retailer’s all-time preorder record.

"GameStop is tracking to all-time, record reservations on Call of Duty: Black Ops,” said Bob McKenzie, senior vice president of merchandising at GameStop. “We are ahead of where we were with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 last year, which previously set the industry standard.”

Specific numbers were not provided, but GameStop’s comments echo the preorder assessment Pacific Crest analyst Evan Wilson made in July.

If preorders are indicative of total sales (and they often are), Black Ops will fall in line with Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick’s thought that each entry in the Call of Duty series will outperform its predecessor.

However, Wilson doesn’t think Black Ops will break Modern Warfare 2’s sales records. He has pegged Black Ops to sell 12 million units in the holiday season. Modern Warfare 2 moved 16 million in the same period.

Call of Duty: Black Ops, with 3D support, goes on sale for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, DS, and PC on November 9. For more on the shooter, check out GameSpot’s most recent hands-on coverage.