Can a Video Game Have the Biggest Entertainment Launch Ever?

When it comes to big launches, it seems the movie business is king, with blockbuster opening weekends making headlines and generating huge buzz. But the video game industry is actually bigger than theatrical movie going.

The US box office generated about $9.8 billion in revenue last year while video game sales in North America were more than $20 billion. Now Activision/Blizzard (ATVI) is trying to make the launch of its sequel to "Call of Duty" the biggest entertainment launch ever. The maker of the hit Guitar Hero video game has hired TBWA/Chiat/Day, publicly tasking the firm to make the video game's November release bigger than any past video game or movie.

We're talking hundreds of millions of dollars in the first few days. Activision is trying to pull out all the stops to make the game's release a real *event* to help overcome the downturn in consumer spending. Video game sales dropped 23 percent in May, according to the NPD group, in part because of tough comparisons to last year's big releases. Let's see if this release is enticing enough to get gamers to pull out their credit cards.

Activision is simply continuing the game of one-upmanship with over-the-top openings. Huge sales right off the bat generates media attention which in turn generates more sales. In 2007 Microsoft's (MSFT) "Halo 3" brought in $170 million in the US on the first day it went on sale thanks to the fact that 1.7 million copies were pre-ordered. Last May Take Two Interactive (TTWO) boasted that "Grand Theft Auto IV" sold 3.6 million games opening day, worth $360 million worldwide.

Pre-sales are key to a dramatic video game release, so we can expect a diverse marketing campaign to kick off soon. Video game players/buyers obsessively read reviews, which means gamer websites will be key. And because gamers spend so much time online, they're harder to reach through traditional ads and TV commercials. So expect lots of innovative web targeting and no TV commercials.