It appears that a declining retail market for video games hasn’t been able to shoot down Activision Blizzard Inc.’s popular franchise “Call of Duty.”

The most recent installment of the first-person shooter game, “Black Ops 2,” brought in more than $500 million in worldwide sales in its first day on shelves, making it the largest video game launch of the year.

This is the fourth year in a row that a “Call of Duty” game has generated the largest amount of first-day sales. Last year, “Modern Warfare 3” had the biggest launch of the year, scoring $400 million in sales in North America and the United Kingdom in its first 24 hours. Activision didn’t release first-day worldwide sales for last year’s title.

Analysts said that if you compare “Black Ops 2” worldwide launch sales with estimates of “Modern Warfare 3” worldwide launch sales, the game probably performed equally, if not slightly below, last year’s.

An Activision spokeswoman could not be reached for comment for this story.

Given the age of the franchise and an industrywide decline in video game retail sales, Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities in downtown Los Angeles, said “Black Ops 2” is still performing well.

“What is remarkable is that ‘Call of Duty’ is just as big as ever,” he said.

The biggest competition for “Call of Duty” this year was “Halo 4” from Microsoft Corp. But because the alien shooter series only sells for the Xbox console – while “Call of Duty” sells for all three major consoles and PCs – first-day sales came in at $220 million, less than half of “Call of Duty’s” sales.

To many analysts, even launch sales for the two “Call of Duty” games show that the Santa Monica publisher is soldiering on even as more players move to digital downloads for online or mobile devices.

In-store sales of video game software have declined for 11 straight months, with October sales dropping 25 percent from last year to nearly $756 million, according to a report from market research firm NPD Group.

Even so, Activision continues to do a traditional retail launch for “Call of Duty” every year.

Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Robert W. Baird & Co. in San Francisco, said Activision has actually been able take advantage of the declining retail market. Fewer publishers are releasing top-tier retail games, which makes a launch for a “Call of Duty” even more exciting to gamers.

“In terms of retail sales, we continue to see a consolidation of market share in the industry towards a small number of core game franchises,” he wrote in an email. “‘Call of Duty’ is at the top of the list, and benefits from declining sales of second-tier video games.”

Creating community

Activision has been able to maintain a strong following for the “Call of Duty” games because it has built a community of fans who buy new titles year after year, said Todd Mitchell, a video game analyst at Brean Capital LLC in New York.

“What Activision is very good at doing is creating compelling content and developing a community around that,” he said. “That creates a self-reinforcing ecosystem.”

To create that community, Activision has built a multiplayer game feature that allows people to compete with friends or strangers through their consoles’ Internet-connected systems. The publisher also has been able to retain fans by embracing digital downloads. Between game releases, players can download expansion packs from the Internet that continue the game play with new maps and territories.

That Activision has adapted to the changing video game industry has helped it remain a leading publisher while competitors such as THQ Inc. in Agoura Hills have struggled. The beleaguered publisher known for children’s games and licensed franchises is exploring financing options that could include private-equity or venture capital fundraising.

But Activision’s financials remain strong. Earlier this month, the company reported third quarter net income of $226 million, up 53 percent from $148 million in the same period a year earlier. Revenue was up nearly 12 percent to $841 million.

Looking forward, the company estimated that “Call of Duty” sales would boost its fourth quarter and annual earnings.

Wedbush’s Pachter said Activision can rely on the series to bring in big sales because the publisher has found a formula that works.

“It’s the right combo of product, community and promotion,” he said.