Activision Claims Destiny ‘Most Successful New Video Game Franchise Launch of All Time’

Destiny, Bungie’s attempt to one-up the latter’s Halo franchise by a country mile, has sold a whopping $500 million worth of copies so far, says publisher Activision. But hold up: that’s sold-in, not through, which means the company’s really reporting a record-breaking relationship with retailers, not customers.

That relationship must have existed prior to the game going on sale at its midnight launch. How much of that $500 million–shipped to stores in the form of retail and digital standard and limited editions as well as physical copies bundled with game consoles–is walking out the door with customers, buying it for PlayStation and Xbox platforms, remains a question mark.

Activision rolled that eye-catching figure out in a press release that also states the game launched at more than 11,000 midnight openings in over 178 countries worldwide. Among other things, the company claims Bungie’s hybrid single-player/multiplayer first-person shooter is the “highest-selling day one digital console release in history,” and that it’s “on track to become Activision’s next billion dollar franchise.” (“Next,” referring to its two other billion-dollar franchises: Call of Duty and Skylanders.)

As one of my colleagues put it this morning: “Great, I was beginning to worry that Activision wasn’t going to make enough money this year.”