The brand manager for the Call of Duty series says that Modern Warfare 2 will be "the biggest selling videogame of all time." Most people who follow the gaming industry would anticipate tremendous success for Modern Warfare 2 when it debuts this November, but few have higher expectations than Activision's own Simon Wells. The company's Call of Duty brand manager informed MCV that the plan is not only for Modern Warfare 2 to do well, but for the game to outsell every other game that's come before it.

"We want to propel this year's title to be the biggest selling videogame of all time," Wells declared, continuing, "That may raise some eyebrows, but step back and look at the franchise's trajectory through preceding launches, and this objective starts to look viable."

The Activision representative went on to claim that Modern Warfare 2 will be going head-to-head with television and movies rather than games this year -- echoing statements made by jilted Hollywood executives during the Halo 3 launch in 2007. "We firmly believe we have the potential to be the No.1 entertainment property of the year. The reality for a franchise as large as Call of Duty is that we are competing directly with entertainment propositions outside of the videogame space."

Looking at the number of people on Xbox Live who still choose to play Call of Duty 4 over Call of Duty: World at War, the real competition for Modern Warfare 2 could come from within. As successful as the franchise has been over the last few years, how many more annual sequels can that success sustain before the Call of Duty fan-base becomes too fragmented?