Activision must be one happy place to be right now. After the Call of Duty: Ghosts launch party on Monday night the game was launched at 00:01. Since then it has sold in excess of $1 billion (£622 million) worth of copies.

The game is already ranked number one on Xbox Live and is the most pre-ordered title ever on US retailer GameStop. Activision, who is claiming the sales number, says over 15,000 shops opened at midnight on Monday to sell the game across the globe.

By comparison Grand Theft Auto V had the best first day sales for a game ever at $800 million (£496 million). But it must be noted COD sales are to retail - so customers may not have actually bought that many copies yet. Call of Duty: Ghosts is the tenth instalment of the game on its tenth birthday. 

READ: 10 things you didn't know about Call of Duty as it celebrates 10th birthday

Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, said: "This is the must-have launch title for the next generation of consoles, and we expect Call of Duty: Ghosts to be the most successful launch title for the Xbox One and PS4 by a wide margin. In fact, according to GameStop, Call of Duty: Ghosts is their most pre-reserved next-gen title".

According to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick: "In the last 12 months, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, including its digital content, generated more revenues than any other console game ever has in a single year. Although it is too early to assess sell-through for Call of Duty: Ghosts, it's launching at a time when the franchise has never been more popular."

Ghosts can be played on PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo's Wii U and Windows computers, and will also be available on other consoles in future.