Source: ComingSoon Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment announced today that Batman: Arkham City has sold more than 4.6 million units worldwide since its October 18th North America release date for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles.
This roughly doubles the number of units sold for Batman: Arkham Asylum in it's first week and despite its late release date, puts it in contention to be one of the top-selling titles of 2011.
Here are some other video game stats to put these numbers in perspective: -
Halo 2 posted $125 Million in sales during its first week (est. 2.625 million copies)
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Halo 3 posted $300 Million in sales during its first week (est. 4 million copies)
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Grand Theft Auto IV posted $500 Million in sales during its first week (est. 6 million copies)
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Call of Duty: Black Ops posted $650 Million in sales during its first week (est. 7.125 million copies)
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Gears of War 3 sold more than 3 million copies during its first week.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has earned over $1 billion dollars in sales since its November 9, 2010 release date.
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Batman: Arkham Asylum sold 2 million copies after its first three weeks of release
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Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions sold 574,943 copies worldwide.
I'm currently on my second play-through, so expect a review to be posted soon!
Batman: Arkham City is the sequel to action-adventure stealth video game Batman: Arkham Asylum, based on DC Comics' Batman, for Onlive, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and Microsoft Windows. It is being developed by Rocksteady Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The game was officially announced during the beginning of the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards and is scheduled to be released worldwide the week of October 18, 2011.
The story for Arkham City takes place about one year after the events of Arkham Asylum. Quincy Sharp, former warden of Arkham Asylum, has taken credit for stopping the Joker, and used the notoriety to become mayor of Gotham City. As neither Arkham nor Blackgate Prison are in any condition to detain inmates, Sharp buys out a large section of Gotham's slums and arms the perimeter with private military contractors from a group called Tyger in order to create "Arkham City". The prisoners are brought into Arkham City and are given free rein, as long as they do not attempt escape. To oversee the city, Sharp hires psychiatrist Hugo Strange who appears to have his own secret agenda for the city. Batman and Robin maintain a vigil over the city, worried that the situation may get out of hand. Part of the setup for "Arkham City" was contained in plans in a hidden room in Sharp's office in Arkham Asylum.
The events of the game are set in motion when Two-Face, seeking to gain notoriety among the inmates and other villains outside the city, devises a plan to publicly execute Catwoman. Batman decides for both the safety of Gotham and of his past relationship with Catwoman that he must stop the execution by entering Arkham City. Catwoman takes advantage of the chaos in Arkham City to acquire jewelry, and a few high tech gadgets; much like how Batman receives new tools and upgrades.
A teaser trailer was released that featured Joker being nursed by Harley Quinn from the effects of the Titan formula (and the explosive gel punch from Batman) while Arkham City descends into chaos. The sequel was described by veteran Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy as "really, really dark". While relating the game's dark nature to the animated movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Conroy also said, "It involves a lot of the villains and it goes to that area – it's that dark.