In the world of video games, one of the most popular and iconic genres is the first person shooter (FPS). One of the most successful franchises in the FPS genre is Call of Duty from Activision.

Activision is set to launch the next installment in the franchise on November 9, 2010 entitled Call of Duty: Black Ops. Activision is betting big on Black Ops and plans for the launch of the game to be one of the biggest in the 31-year history of the publishing company.

Activision stated during  a conference call this week that it planned to invest more money in the marketing and launch of Black Ops than it has ever invested in a game title before, including last year's blockbuster hit from the franchise Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Activision COO Thomas Tippl said, "This year's Black Ops will release on more platforms than ever before, and continues to pace ahead of last year's record setting Modern Warfare 2 in terms of per-sales and consumer awareness metrics."

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick says that he expects Black Ops to expand the franchise's audience and the game will not only target hard-core gamers and existing fans of the franchise. He stated, "This is, across the board, the biggest investment that we've ever made in the launch of a title. The market opportunity is bigger than it's ever been, the install base of hardware is bigger than it's ever been, and the product has incredibly broad appeal, but it also has a whole host of functions that will be unique to the core consumer."

The expectation for Black Ops to outperform Modern Warfare 2 is impressive. Modern Warfare 2 was one of the biggest PC game launches of 2009 and raked in $310 million in sales over the first 24 hours. Analysts expected the game to sell 5 million copies the first day.