Today's launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops marked the start of a huge sales rush ahead of the festive season. The new version of the game is quoted by Paddy Power as the clear 1/6 odds on favourite to be Christmas number one.
What will worry rival game manufacturers is Paddy Power is also quoting an odds on 8/15 the game will sell over 20 million copies and earn the owners, Activision, potentially over 1bn. Whilst some question if the game will maintain its appeal following the loss of the two key creative minds behind the previous Call of Duty games, the queues forming outside Christmas stores show demand for the game is still massive.
Roberto Coladangelo, spokesman for Paddy Power, said: "The number of reports on record pre-orders and the shops preparing themselves for a barrage of gamers leaves us with little option but to make the game a massive favourite for the Christmas top spot."
Christmas No 1 Video game
1/6 Call of Duty: Black Ops
7/1 FIFA 11
8/1 Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
16/1 Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit
World wide sales
11/8 Less than 20 million copies
8/15 20 million or more copies
