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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 launch - London
Actors arrive dressed as soldiers for the midnight launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 at a store in London's Trocadero. Photograph: Theodore Wood/PA
Actors arrive dressed as soldiers for the midnight launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 at a store in London's Trocadero. Photograph: Theodore Wood/PA

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - epic that takes games industry to new level

This article is more than 14 years old
Modern Warfare 2 given West End celebrity launch
Title expected to bring in £150m in UK in first week

With huge crowds awaiting a parade of celebrities in Leicester Square and the obligatory after-party, at which Dizzee Rascal was due to perform, the first night of Modern Warfare 2 appeared to be a typically glamorous West End premiere. The carpet, however, was camouflage, not red. And Modern Warfare 2 is a computer game, not a film.

It is the first time Westminster council has granted permission for a games company to stage a launch in the traditional movie heartland. The council may have stipulated that the screening not be dubbed a "premiere" or "red carpet" event, but the message is clear that the gaming sector has moved into the film and TV world. Indeed, it has been forecast that 2009 could be the year in which the games industry clearly beats the film industry in global revenue-generation.

But Britain's actors are making sure they get a slice of the action. Kevin McKidd, Craig Fairbrass and Billy Murray have been discussing their voiceover parts in the game ahead of the screening of sections of it tonight. Those who had tickets for the Vue cinema event, hosted by Vernon Kay and Dom Joly, were then treated to scenes from Modern Warfare 2.

Activision, the company behind it, believes the game will smash previous records. In the UK games retailers – most of which opened specially at midnight – have taken more than 750,000 pre-orders, and in the US over 2.5 million units were pre-ordered. Activision believes as many as 3m copies could be sold in its opening week in the UK alone, bringing in a staggering £150m. Activision caused controversy by setting Modern Warfare 2's recommended retail price at £55 (hugely in excess of the customary £39.99) but even before launch a retail price war had broken out, with Sainsbury's offering it for £26.

Whatever the price, it should eclipse Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which tops the list of film opening weekends with revenue of more than £235m. Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV currently holds the opening-week record, bringing in over $500m, but will probably yield to Modern Warfare 2.

Cllr Robert Davis, the deputy leader of Westminster City Council, said of the Leicester Square launch: "The creative industries as a whole play a hugely important part in our economy and the game's developers, software designers and writers are all based in the West End, and we are proud to do what we can to support them."

Analyst Nick Parker, CEO of Parker consulting, said: "Events like this are hugely important for the games industry. When you talk to people who are potential investors they don't usually appreciate the scale of the industry until moments like this. If you tell people you went to the premieres, say, of Harry Potter or The Dark Knight, they go 'Wow', but the Modern Warfare 2 launch is potentially a much bigger entertainment event – it could be the biggest ever in terms of first-week sales."

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Modern Warfare 2 has also drawn criticism. It includes a mission in which the gamer plays an undercover CIA agent accompanying a terrorist on a shooting spree of civilians at an airport. But the game asks players if they are easily offended at the start; if they say yes, the mission is skipped.

The scene prompted MP Keith Vaz to call for Modern Warfare 2 to be banned. But wading in against him has been fellow Labour MP Tom Watson, a former minister for digital engagement. Watson said: "Everything that comes out of parliament in relation to video games is relentlessly negative. There are thousands of people employed in this industry, there are 26 million people playing games. We should have a much more balanced view." And while agreeing that he found the airport mission "deeply repulsive", he pointed out that Modern Warfare 2 is 18-rated, and that the UK games classification system is increasingly well policed.

Activision will no doubt thank Vaz for adding to the build-up – as if Modern Warfare 2 needed it. Even in a recession, the games industry remains successful. As staying in becomes the new going out, video games appear poised to take an even larger slice of the entertainment cake.

More on this story

More on this story

  • Modern Warfare 2: 1.78m sales in UK, but not everyone is happy…

  • Modern Warfare 2 breaks UK sales record

  • MPs, come play a video game with me

  • Modern Warfare 2: 'It lets you experience how it feels being a terrorist'

  • Modern Warfare 2: Just a machine

  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

  • Modern Warfare 2 - your impressions so far

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