Modern Warfare 2 smashes day-one sales record

Activision sold 1.23 million copies of Modern Warfare 2 in the UK on the game’s first day on release, MCV can reveal.

Incredibly, that’s double the number GTA IV sold through in its first 24 hours on shelves – making MW2 by far the fastest-selling video game in UK history.

The figure – which represents close to one in 24 UK homes – comes from official GfK-ChartTrack data obtained by MCV.

The news puts MW2 easily on course to hit the 1.7 million sales forecast by MCV last month – and means it’s already matched HMV’s slightly more conservative estimate.

The last day-one sales champ, GTA IV, generated 609,000 sales in its first 24 hours at retail in the UK – taking around 27 million.

The Rockstar release sold 926,000 units in its first five days on sale – taking 40 million at tills.

UPDATE: ELSPA has put out a press release repeating the numbers, and confirming that MW2 grossed around 47 million on day one. The news keeps getting better and better for Activision…