From the site:

UPDATE: Game steams past 1m UK sales in 24 hours as it steals GTA IV's crown.

Activision sold 1.23 million copies of Modern Warfare 2 in the UK on the game's first day on release, MCV can reveal.

Incredibly, that's double the number GTA IV sold through in its first 24 hours on shelves – making MW2 by far the fastest-selling video game in UK history.

The figure – which represents close to one in 24 UK homes – comes from official GfK-ChartTrack data obtained by MCV.

The news puts MW2 easily on course to hit the 1.7 million sales forecast by MCV last month – and means it's already matched HMV's slightly more conservative estimate.

The last day-one sales champ, GTA IV, generated 609,000 sales in its first 24 hours at retail in the UK – taking around £27 million.

Holy shit, and that's UK sales too, the US sales must be gargantuan. 

Played with so many people from the UK, too bad most of them were kids with mics :(

*buries head in palms*
 
Another day of being embarrassed to be a part of the video gaming industry. 
 
I'm gonna go read a book.
 

Well no real surprise there. I think everyone expected it to demolish GTAIV's previous record.

61/1.23 = About 1 in 50 people in the UK buying Modern Warfare 2.

I'm not sure if I feel good or bad about being a part of that.

" I'm not sure if I feel good or bad about being a part of that. "

" *buries head in palms*
 
Another day of being embarrassed to be a part of the video gaming industry. 
 
I'm gonna go read a book.
 

  The average video gamer "

Supermarkets in the UK slash the price, people snap it up fast day one.

" @Meowayne said:

" *buries head in palms*
 
Another day of being embarrassed to be a part of the video gaming industry. 
 
I'm gonna go read a book.
 

  The average video gamer "

wtf is all this about? stop trying to be some elitist prick mate - you're on a videogames website. christ... "

I wonder what America's day one sales are now.

Double what GTA IV sold in the first 24 hours? Holy crap!

That's crazy, and those numbers don't even include the copies pre-purchased on Steam, which I'm guessing is a not-insignificant number.  Plus games generally don't come out until the end of the week here, so the numbers after the weekend should be even crazier.  There's a bit of a temporary MW2 price-war going on here in the UK (it can be had on consoles for around ~$44 atm), so people are buying early before it inevitably goes back up.

" @Kibblez said:

" @Meowayne said:

" *buries head in palms*
 
Another day of being embarrassed to be a part of the video gaming industry. 
 
I'm gonna go read a book.
 

  The average video gamer "

wtf is all this about? stop trying to be some elitist prick mate - you're on a videogames website. christ... "

What do you think you are when you are in a videogame website? >__> "

" @Willy105: There's a movement? "

" @Willy105 said:

" @Kibblez said:

" @Meowayne said:

" *buries head in palms*
 
Another day of being embarrassed to be a part of the video gaming industry. 
 
I'm gonna go read a book.
 

  The average video gamer "

wtf is all this about? stop trying to be some elitist prick mate - you're on a videogames website. christ... "

What do you think you are when you are in a videogame website? >__> "

I'm not trying to downplay the fact that we're on a games website, only that someone who visits and posts on games forums shouldn't be taking the stance of 'oh you silly wasters, I'll go read a good book now'. it's so fucking obnoxious "

Is anyone really surprised?  It's goddamn Modern Warfare 2, of course it's gonna sell like bananas.

If that was the UK, the US sales must be astronomical.

" If that was the UK, the US sales must be astronomical. "

"One in twenty-four UK homes" is kind of astonishing, actually. I'd be interested in seeing that fraction for the US once the sells numbers comes out; that's about as mass pop culture as anything gets these days.