It’s almost a rhetorical question to ask—the Call of Duty video game franchise has grossed an insane amount of money over the past few years—but it’s still something that does have a question mark at the end. Has Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 been confirmed already, a couple of weeks before Call of Duty: Black Ops II arrives?

According to Bill Murray (no, not that one), the actor who voices the popular character Captain Price, development on the game has already begun.

When James Cameron’s Avatar took movie theaters by storm, obliterating every record in sight including the seemingly untouchable $600 million mark set by another Cameron movie, Titanic, very few people thought a day would soon come where that new record fell.

Shockingly, though no movie has or likely will come close for a long time, it’s a video game that has nudged its way into Avatar‘s personal record bubble. Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has reached $1 billion, and it has done so in only 16 days. That tops Avatar, which pulled it off in 17 days.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Xbox 360 | PS3 | PC
DEVELOPER: Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games
PUBLISHER: Activision
WRITER: Paul Haggis
STARRING: Kevin McKidd, Billy Murray, William Fichtner, Idris Elba, Timothy Olyphant
RELEASE DATE: November 8, 2011

The Call of Duty franchise has become a juggernaut in the video game industry—with titles like World at War, Black Ops, and, biggest of all, the Modern Warfare series contributing to what has become a more profitable franchise than both Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, to name a couple.

While I’ve always loved first-person shooters, I was late to the Call of Duty games for one reason or another and only recently jumped in head first a year or so back when I first played Modern Warfare and decided to finally try this “multiplayer” thing out with Black Ops. As was the case with most people, I too was sucked in fairly quickly, and, after getting pretty decent at multiplayer action, began getting pumped for the newest and biggest Call of Duty title to date, Modern Warfare 3.

Despite much drama and what looked like a significant potential fanbase loss, Activision has done it again, breaking the day-one video game release record for the third consecutive year with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

In its first 24 hours the game sold 6.5 million copies (including its record-breaking pre-orders), which equals out to $400 million. That breaks last year’s record of $360 million set by Call of Duty: Black Ops, and the prior year’s record of $310 million set by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Brothers Ridley Scott and Tony Scott, the highly respected directors and duo behind Scott Free Productions, will be collaborating on a brand new web series for Activision’s hugely popular Call of Duty franchise through Ridley Scott Associates.

The series, which will be called Friday Night Fights, will be on the brand new service being launched by the company, Call of Duty Elite, where the biggest fans can pay a monthly fee to gain access to bonus content in the form of monthly DLC, the ability to compete for prizes, and something called Elite TV, which is where this new Ridley and Tony Scott web series will air. If you don’t want to pay a monthly fee you can sign up for free, but you won’t have access to the things listed above and more. You can learn more about Call of Duty Elite at the official site.