Call of Duty franchise map packs recruit 20 million

As part of its 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo presence in June, Activision trumpeted Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's latest sales milestone, saying the top-rated shooter from Infinity Ward had sold 20 million units worldwide. Now, that same milestone has been passed by the Call of Duty franchise's downloadable map packs. Today, Activision said that lifetime-to-date sales of the add-on arenas have surpassed 20 million units.

Activision did not provide a game-by-game sales breakdown for the map packs. The publisher had not returned requests for comment as of press time.

Previously, the publisher had announced that Modern Warfare 2's Resurgence Map Pack had sold 2.5 million units on the Xbox 360 alone. Prior to that, Activision said in July 2009 that the first two map packs for Treyarch's COD: World at War had shifted 4 million units. As for Call of Duty 4, Activision said in April 2008 that it had sold 1 million units on the Xbox 360 alone within two weeks of launch.

As for the franchise itself, Activision said in November that the series had generated more than $3 billion since Infinity Ward's highly acclaimed original shipped for the PC in 2003. Since then the series has gone on to sell some 55 million units.

That figure is likely to balloon as Activision dramatically increases its output of franchise installments. Beyond Treyarch's COD: Black Ops, which is due for release November 9, Activision is also prepping an action adventure installment at Sledgehammer Games, a new Modern Warfare installment at Infinity Ward, and a massively multiplayer online installment for Asian markets.

The success hasn't been without casualties, however. The problems surfaced in March, after Infinity Ward cofounders Jason West and Vince Zampella were fired. After their dismissal, the pair sued the company, which sued back, alleging they had been plotting to start a new studio with chief Activision rival Electronic Arts. Within weeks, West and Zampella did just that. A number of Infinity Ward developers jumped ship to join the new studio, dubbed Respawn Entertainment, while others simply resigned.