HALO 3 Hits $170 Million Mark on First Day

By: Jarrod Sarafin, News Editor
Date: Thursday, September 27, 2007
Source: Gamasutra

The third installment in the HALO franchise sold an estimated $170 million dollars worth of games in its first day of release, says Microsoft. This marks the "biggest entertainment launch in history" noted a MS official, beating out big openings of books such as HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS and SPIDER-MAN 3. The game also sold 1.7 million units in pre-order sales alone..

“Not only is Halo 3 setting sales records, it’s also redefining entertainment. Within the first 20 hours alone, we’ve seen more than a million Xbox LIVE members come online to play Halo 3 – that makes September 25 the most active Xbox LIVE gaming day in history.”

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Comments/Responses

Fallensbane • Sep 27, 2007, 06:07am •

In the word of Ron Simmons... "Damn!"

ponyboy76 • Sep 27, 2007, 08:25am •

Crazy! I also heard somewhere that alot of the first batch of games were all scratched.

popa • Sep 27, 2007, 08:28am •

Obviously this is a watershed event that is surely going to make the entertainment industry sit up and take notice. I suspect the impact of this one event will be felt for years to come and not just in the computer game industry.

FrozenFear • Sep 27, 2007, 09:38am •

First off, I want to say congrats to Bungie & Microsoft!!

Second, I want to say I really don't like these cross industry comparisons, if only because the per unit sales don't match up. Sure, the game beat the first day sales of HP, but considering the book cost ranges from $20-$35 and the game cost ranges from $60-$130, it's a hell of a lot easier to make more money while still selling a similar amount of units.

Don't get me wrong: I loves me some Halo, but the latest HP book sold 11 million copies on its 1st day in the US & UK. That be a lot!!

However, if the $170 million gets the movie rolling again with Peter J. at the helm, I'm all in!!

nax37 • Sep 27, 2007, 10:52am •

popa, are you being serious? What impact of Halo 3 will be felt for years to come? And how will it affect any other industry but gaming?

themacallan007 • Sep 27, 2007, 11:03am •

Good. I'm so happy video games are now surpassing films. Its great to have so many entertainment options available these days. Lets face it...video games are now much more entertaining than movies. While Hollywood is stuck in the remake/prequel mode, video/pc games actually offer much beter storylines and characters. Why do you think so many films are ebing made out of these games???

Boombatty • Sep 27, 2007, 11:44am •

Frozenfear: $130? where are you buying your games. I'll sell you mine for $120/pop.

As for the numbers, I think the games retails for $60 thus they have sold roughly over 2.8 million copies. Plus the 1.7 mil pre-sales = 4.5 million. If HP sold 11 million copies on it's first day it kicked the crap out of Halo 3. Price wise HP at $25/pop= $275Mil (at 11 mil copies) vs. Halo at $60/pop= $270Mil (at 4.5 mil copies) the numbers are so close that it is indeed possible that Halo 3 outsold the HP book by $$$ (but obviously not copies sold). I also wonder if they were talking US sales only. HP sold 8.3 million on day one iin the US, 11 million worldwide.

zack2366 • Sep 27, 2007, 01:34pm •

$64.95 of that 170 million is mine - i like the game so far but damn there are some good 14 year olds playing - some of the servers are starting to slow down also at times i had some bad lag last night and couldnt get into any rooms even after rebooting my modem and router.

bearly • Sep 27, 2007, 03:25pm •

With Halo 3 selling so many units, you can smell a Halo movie comming a year and a half away to a theater near you. But I don't think Peter Jackson can do Master Chief justice. The best collaboration would have to be, a script by J.K. Rowling and director Sam Raimi. Because we all know that only Spider-Man and Harry Potter are in the same league as Master Chief.

AApocalypse • Sep 27, 2007, 05:27pm •

I hope they don't make a Halo movie cuz it can't live up to the game nor the hype. I'm sure they would depart from the game's storyline and only Peter Jackson would probably stay true to the game anyway and I doubt he'll commit.

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