In a Thursday statement, Activision Blizzard said that its new video game, the November 9-released “Call of Duty: Black Ops,” has set a new first-day sales record – with the sales of 5.6 million copies of the game in the US and the UK generating a whopping $360 million, within the first 24 hours of its launch.

Breaking the last year record of maximum first-day sales of $310 million by its predecessor – Activision’s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” – Black Ops’ enviable first-day sales figures spell great news for the videogame industry which has been badly hit by a plunge in sales.

Meanwhile, expressing more optimism about the sales of Black Ops, Activision’s chief executive Bobby Kotick said in a statement that the new title is also apparently on its way to break Modern Warfare 2’s five-day sales record of $550 million!

Furthermore, in addition to setting a new record, Black Ops’ release also witnessed an unprecedented 12,000 retailers holding midnight openings to meet the demand of the title among the “Call of Duty” aficionados.

According to reports, over 25 million gamers play some version of the “Call of Duty” franchise – the first title of which was released in 2003 -; connecting with one another via the game’s online component.

“Call of Duty” is currently available for PCs and all the leading video game consoles - including Nintendo Wii’s; Sony’s PlayStation 3; and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 – as well as on handheld consoles, the Apple iPhone, and Resarch in Motion’s BlackBerry.