Console warriors are being offered a convenient way to aid genuine warriors. For two weeks starting today, Activision is donating all proceeds from the sale of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 avatars to the non-profit, public benefit corporation, Call of Duty Endowment.
CODE, as the charitable organization is known, assists veterans with job placement and training as they transition back to civilian life.
The company also created two additional avatars to help generate interest for the initiative. American Special Forces and Special Ops Juggernaut are now available along with the 30 or so other items on the game’s Xbox Live Marketplace page.
Each avatar costs 400 Microsoft points; prepaid Xbox Live Points Cards worth 1600 points typically cost $20.
According to U.S. Department of Defense Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, about 850,000 veterans are currently unemployed, and for those who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts the unemployment rate is 12.1 percent.
Call of Duty is one of the industry’s most popular franchises. Within the first 24 hours of its release, Charttrack reported Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 sold more than more than 6.5 million units in North America and the United Kingdom, representing $400 million. Last year, also in North America and the United Kingdom, Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops had estimated day-one sell-through of $360 million and in 2009, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, set day-one records with estimated sell through of $310 million.
Related links:
Xbox Live Marketplace Call of Duty page – http://tinyurl.com/6wroysq
