Call of Duty: Ghosts ships over $1 billion at retail stores worldwide as of day one

Call of Duty: Ghosts has sold-in $1 billion at retail stores worldwide since its release yesterday, Activision has announced.

The game is already in the number one spot on Xbox Live, according to Microsoft, with average player sessions being reportedly longer than either Black Ops 2 or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, during the same time period.

"Call of Duty is by far the largest console franchise of this generation," said CEO Bobby Kotick in a prepared statement. "More people have played Call of Duty this year than ever before, logging four billion hours of gameplay. In the last 12 months, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, including its digital content, generated more revenues than any other console game ever has in a single year.

"Although it is too early to assess sell-through for Call of Duty: Ghosts, it's launching at a time when the franchise has never been more popular."

Midnight opening were held at 15,000 locations around the world and according to GameStop figures is the company's "most-preordered next-gen title."

The shooter was released yesterday, November 5, on PC, PS3, Wii U and Xbox 360. It will launch on next-gen alongside the consoles later this month.