Sales of Activision's "Call of Duty: Black Ops" reached approximately $360 million in North America and the UK in the first 24 hours, the company announced Thursday.

That's a $50 million increase from sales of the company's 2009 "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," which brought in $310 million in its first day. Overall, fans snapped up 5.6 million copies of the game, compared to the 4.7 million copies of "Modern Warfare 2."

"There has never been another entertainment franchise that has set opening day records for two consecutive years and we are on track to outperform last year's five-day global sales record of $550 million," Bobby Kotick, chief executive of Activision Blizzard, said in a statement. "The game's success underscores the pop culture appeal of the brand. 'Call of Duty: Black Ops' is the finest game that Treyarch has ever made and raises the bar for online gameplay by delivering the deepest and most intense Call of Duty experience yet."

"Call of Duty: Black Ops" hit stores on November 9. The game, developed by Treyarch, provides "the deepest and most intense 'Call of Duty' experience ever," according to Activision. Players engage in guerilla warfare and covert ops in the middle of the wilderness in single and multiplayer formats. This release also incorporated 3D elements, available on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows PCs.

Kotick said the "Call of Duty" franchise has more than 25 million players around the world engaged in billions of hours of online. "We are committed to supporting them with new content and features on a more frequent and regular basis," he said.