Activision says they are making boatloads of money but declines to reveal how many copies have been sold...
After spending the most money developing a game in the history of gaming and potentially getting egg on their face...
And after admitting that most of the 500 million dollars is going towards "advertising campaigns" (for those who are naive, that means paying the media to say good things about your game)...
Destiny would have had to sell between 15 and 16 million copies for Activision to break even on their half a billion dollar investment. The news that's been coming out seems really shady to me, primarily because the numbers don't seem to add up.
Also, you have to consider that Activision makes a percentage of the profit, not the entirety of the profit. Most publishers make anywhere between 20% and 50% from the PROFITS of the sales. Which means for Activision to have made 632 million United States Dollars from sales so far...
632m/60 USD per unit = 10,533,333 and 1/3 units
ASSUMING that Activision makes 50% (which is very unlikely), that means
632,000,000/30 USD per unit = 21,066,666 and 2/3 units
Assuming the more likely scenario that Activision makes 20%, that means
632,000,000/12 USD per unit = 52,666,666 and 2/3 units
In pre-orders and shelve populating. I think that Activision has no qualms about blowing smoke to the media to try to boost Destiny's popularity (and hopefully make their money back).
EDIT: Also, for evidence of Activision buying good press, look no further than MetaCritic.