Activision Blizzard shares rise before game launch (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Activision Blizzard Inc shares rose more than 5 percent on Monday, ahead of Tuesday’s release of “Call of Duty: Black Ops.”

U.S. pre-orders of the video game, the latest “Call of Duty” installment, may have reached 3 million units, said Dan Ernst, a Hudson Square analyst. One-day global sales will likely surpass last year’s 4.7 million units sold at the launch of the last version of the game, “Modern Warfare 2,” according to Ernst’s research note.

“Our take is that shares were up on the enthusiasm for the launch of Black Ops,” Ernst said.

Last week, Activision Blizzard said it does not expect “Call of Duty: Black Ops,” to outperform last year’s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.”

“Black Ops,” a gritty military-themed shooter game that is part of the “Call of Duty” franchise, goes on sale at midnight on Nov 9 in the U.S.

Activision shares closed at $11.88 on Nasdaq.

(Editing by Steve Orlofsky)