Pachter questions Chart-Track's Modern Warfare 2 sales data

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter is doubtful that Chart-Track's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 sales figures are correct, and that the game did not sell 1.23 million units on its first day.

He was speaking following estimates that the game sold seven million units worldwide on day one – a number arrived at by Broadpoint AMTech analyst Ben Schachter, who used the Chart-Track figures to extrapolate global sales numbers.

"Seven million is therefore a very reasonable estimate, if we accept that the UK figure is accurate. My guess is that it’s not," Pachter told VG247.

"I don’t know how anyone could aggregate UK sales that fast. I’d say it’s far more likely that the game sold no more than 5 million on day one (my bias is 4 million), and that it won’t hit 7 million until the end of the weekend," he said.

"However, you can’t argue with 'facts' such as Chart-Track reports of first day sales. I have a feeling that the figure includes all pre-orders, but not necessarily those units actually picked up on day one."

GfK Chart-Track and ELSPA announced the UK sales figures yesterday, stating that the game grossed around GBP 47 million on its first day on sale, beating the previous day-one record holder GTAIV, which sold an estimated 631,000 units and grossed GBP 27.2 million.