Los Angeles, Nov 28 - Video game franchise Call of Duty has racked up over $3 billion in global sales thanks to the record-breaking release of its latest installment Modern Warfare 2, publisher Activision Blizzard said Friday.

The company said that over 55 million copies of Call of Duty have been sold since the launch of the franchise in 2003.

The hottest sales came this month when the release of Modern Warfare 2 stoked $550 million in sales in its first five days on the market, selling almost 5 million copies in the UK and US alone in what the company said was the highest-grossing entertainment

launch in history.

"Call Of Duty has become one of the greatest entertainment franchises of all time," said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, Inc. "If you consider the number of hours our audiences are engaged in playing Call of Duty games, it is likely to be one of the

most viewed of all entertainment experiences in modern history." (dpa)