In the biggest entertainment launch in world history, the latest installment of Call of Duty set a worldwide estimated five-day record of approximately $550 million, according to internal Activision estimates.

"In just five days of sell-through, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has become the largest entertainment launch in history and a pop-culture phenomenon," said Robert Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. "The title's success redefines entertainment as millions of consumers have chosen to play Modern Warfare 2 at unprecedented levels rather than engage in other forms of media."

Breaking Entertainment Records

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's launch beat nine records -- that's every previous first- and five-day entertainment industry box-office, book and video-game sell-through records, including the largest reported five-day opening worldwide box-office gross figures previously held by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at $394 million.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 also surpassed the largest reported five-day opening domestic box-office gross figures, held by The Dark Knight at $203.8 million, and the largest reported five-day worldwide video-game sales record, held by Grand Theft Auto IV, which sold six million units for $500 million in sales.

And that's just the beginning. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 also beat the largest reported opening first-day domestic box-office gross figures, held by The Dark Knight at $66.4 million; the largest reported first-day book sales, held by Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows at $220 million; and the largest reported first-day worldwide video-game sales record, previously held by Grand Theft Auto IV at $310 million.

Breaking Xbox Live Records

Activision's blockbuster hit is also helping Microsoft . According to the maker of the Xbox 360, Modern Warfare 2's smashing success has made its way to Xbox LIVE. The runaway title's epic release established several new standards, according to Microsoft.

For starters, Modern Warfare 2 racked up more than 5.2 million multiplayer hours among gamers playing the new title -- on the first day alone. Additionally, more than 2.2 million unique gamers played Modern Warfare 2 in one day on Nov. 10. That's a new one-day record for Xbox Live. And more than 11 million achievements were unlocked on Modern Warfare 2 on the first day.

Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, compared the breakout video game to the movie industry. The movie industry goes through down cycles, but customers return to theaters when there's a hot movie. The same is true, he said, for the video-game industry.

"You get a bunch of marginal titles coming out and people stop buying. Then, assuming people still have the platforms, if a publisher comes out with a good title, people rush to the market and you have a big hit on your hands," Enderle said. "The customer is still out there. You just have to build games that attract them."